Distraction
by Star of CCTV
Summary: Mark needs a distraction, so does Izzie! McStizzie! Its my first fic, hope you like it.
1. Chapter 1

Distraction

This Fic takes place in Season 5; Izzie is not with Alex but wants to be. Mark realises he like Lexie but hasn't done anything about it. I do not own any of these characters. It's my first fic, please review.

Izzie was having another bad day. There was no escaping Alex; he was constantly around her, in work, in Joe's but worst of all at home. His escapades with numerous sluts were really pissing her off. Haunting her. She could hear them night after night driving her crazy. When she was not around Alex she was thinking about him, she knew she should just move on, they had tried being in a relationship before and that didn't work. Why would now be any different? In her mind she was constantly arguing with herself to stop fooling herself and move on. But move on to what? Her life was revolving around work, she loved her job but there had to be more to life than just work. For Cristina getting on good cases and rocking in surgery was all that mattered but Izzie was not like Cristina. Izzie sighed as she continued to do paper work at the nurses' station. She could hear Alex chatting up a nurse nearby. This girl was new to the nursing staff and giggled like a school girl though Izzie could not hear what Alex was saying she was certain that later she would hear that girl moaning from Alex's bedroom. It should be her moaning. Izzie caught herself thinking about Alex again and scolded herself.

Finishing off her paper work she looked around at the familiar hall of the hospital. That's when she first noticed Mark Sloan talking to Lexie Grey. He was concentrating on Lexie soaking up everything about her. Izzie couldn't help but stare at them. Was there something happening between them? Izzie laughed thinking what a strange couple they would make. Quiet, sweet, young Lexie and Dr. Sloan who was nothing if not cocky, arrogant and experienced especially in the bedroom. Izzie could not stop looking. Sloan was asking Lexie questions about a patient's condition, in fact it looked like he was teaching her. Oh God something was going on. Lexie caught Izzies stare and smiled at her, Sloan following Lexis's eye line also noticed Izzie. Crap, Izzie quickly smiled back and turned to go and check on her patients passing Alex and the giggling nurse. Forgetting about Sloan and Lexie she continued down the hall.

Mark did not know why he was so attracted to Lexie. He could not understand how or when it happened but it had happened and it would not go away. It was more than a crush; she was all he was able to think about nowadays. She was beautiful, smart but also could be tough when she needed to be. He knew that she was the type of girl that would reject all of his usual McSteamy moves. And he didn't want to just add Lexie to the long list of hospital staff that he had taken to his bed. No, he wanted to date her and get to know her better and of course take her to bed. This was a totally new experience for him. With Addison she wanted him for sex, a distraction from her marriage which was struggling and crumbling to pieces. Lexie Grey would not even want him for sex; she was in love with George O'Malley. O'Malley what did any of the many beautiful women see in him? He was nothing like Mark yet he seemed to have it all. He was married to Callie, slept with Izzie Stephens and now he had Lexie following him around like he was a sex god. What did these women see in him? Mark did not have an idea about how he would get Lexie to even consider going on a date with him so for now all he could think of was being there for her when she wanted to talk about George and also teach her. It was the best plan he had and it was not a good plan at that. He hated teaching interns but this would give him time to get to know Lexie and that was what he wanted to do right now. God what was happening to him? Lexie had turned him into a nervous teen again. He noticed Lexie looking at the nurses' station; she was smiling at Dr. Stephens. Stephens looked confused but returned Lexie's smile before hurrying off in the opposite direction. Mark returned his attention to Lexie and continued telling her about a skin graft he would be performing later. He suddenly realised he needed a distraction like Addison had when she came looking for him. Lexie was in love with George, it was obvious to everyone but George and it annoyed Mark. Yes a distraction was what he needed.

Izzie did not think it was possible but her day had gotten worse. She had lost a patient, after performing emergency surgery with Dr. Shepherd for hours the patient had died anyway. She was now in the locker room getting changed three hours after she was meant to finish work. Right now she hated the hospital but did not want to go home. That would leave her in her room fighting not to hear the noise coming from Alex's room but it would be impossible and Izzie knew it would hurt. She was tired of getting hurt, when would she catch a break? Putting her bad day behind her she promised herself she would not think about Alex anymore. That was it, she was finished with him. Everything she would do from now on would benefit Izzie Stephens and no one else. Getting dressed she decided to wear a new figure hugging black top, jeans and a pair of high heels. Izzie did not feel great but she looked great. Going home was not an option so Joe's, her second home, was her immediate choice. She loved the friendly bartenders company and she was looking forward to having a drink. It had been a hard day. She grabbed her jacket and left.

Mark was cradling his second scotch at the bar. Joe's seemed like a good idea when he scrubbed out of his last surgery but now he was regretting it, big time. Lexie was there with a group of interns including George. She was laughing and having a good time with her friends, Mark turned back to the bar he didn't feel like watching her anymore. He scanned the bar for a woman he could take back to his hotel room. His distraction. He would just go back to doing what he used to do before Lexie Grey got under his skin. But there was no one there that interested him, some nurses who would reject him anyway because he'd already slept with them and then moved on to the next willing nurse. Mark didn't like nurses anymore. Maybe Joe's was not a good place to go to pick up a woman for the night. For one Lexie was there and he did not want her seeing him leave with someone. Even if she was not interest he felt he needed to prove to her that he was not a manwhore. Also Joe's was full of hospital staff. Full of women he had slept with, over fished waters. Thinking about this he did not notice Izzie Stephens enter the bar and sit a few seats away from him. He only realized she was there when she ordered her drink.

"Hey Joe, can I get a gin and tonic please?"

"Hi Izzie, tough day huh?"

"Yes but it is over now thank god" she replied cheerily.

Mark gazed over at Isobel Stephens. She looked amazing. He was stunned. Her hair framed her face with soft golden curls and her brown eyes lit up when she smiled at the barman. Her top clung to her breasts and showed off her flat stomach. She was tall but even still she was wearing high heels which made her legs appear even longer than they were. In that moment all Mark could think about was having her black top thrown on his hotel room floor along with the rest of his clothes and Izzies long legs wrapped around his body. Mark suddenly realized he may have found his distraction.


	2. Chapter 2

_Thanks for the reviews, they keep me going. Not sure where this is going yet ___

Mark laughed to himself suddenly realising what he had been thinking. Ha Stephens would be the last woman who would jump into bed with him; in fact he was sure she hated him. He was everything she was not looking for in a man. And that was Stephens problem she was looking for a man to settle down with not just to screw. He realised he still wanted her but pushed this thought out of his mind, pigs would fly before Stephens would sleep with him. Why did women always have such annoying expectations? This was a problem Mark came across often, women who slept him and then expected things like dates, relationships and engagement rings. Why could they not just want sex? Mark could tell Izzie would be good in bed, no not good, great. There was something fiery about her. She didn't take any of the crap Mark usually dished out to interns and she was not afraid of him either. Mark admired this about her it set her apart from all the other suck ups he had crossed in his time. He listened as she chatted to Joe.

He needed sex, badly. He was so tired of thinking about Lexie and not having the first clue about how to even talk to her. It was embarrassing and frustrating. He saw Erica and Callie enter the bar. He admitted to himself that he missed having Callie around. His problem would be solved; he could have sex with her and talk to her about Lexie. She would help him, hell he'd helped her with Hahn. Callie was a great friend but now she had Erica. He might ask her for help tomorrow but for now he'd leave her be. He couldn't talk to Derek about Lexie, he would tell Meredith and he didn't want that. A loud laugh erupted from the far side of the bar; Lexie and George were now playing darts. Lexie looked so happy, she had lost to George or let him win Mark guessed. She was now moving across to the bar. Christ she was coming over to him.

"Joe can I get two beers?" She turned to Mark and smiled.

"Dr. Sloan thanks for earlier I learned a lot more than any textbook could have taught me about skin grafts." She was still smiling and she reached across brushing her arm off his as she grabbed some peanuts. She smelt like candy.

"Good I'm glad it helped you any other questions you have you know where to find me." He replied, noticing Stephens frowning at him.

Lexie turned to Izzie. "Hey want to join me and the guys?"

"No thanks, I think I'll just finish off my drink and get home to bed." Izzie replied

"Alex still keeping you awake all night?"

Izzie had forgotten that she had mentioned Alex's sleeping patterns to Lexie the other morning when she was tired after another night of no sleep, she sighed "Yes" he was still keeping her up and for all the wrong reasons. "At least he's moving on."

Lexie paid for the beers and turned to Izzie again, "Well if you ever need a full night's sleep George and I have a great couch."

Mark hated when Lexie talked about George, and she had just reminded him that they lived together, like he could forget. George was so lucky and he didn't even realise it. He watched Lexie return to George with the beer, he was shamelessly following her with his eyes. He only turned back when he felt someone move beside him. It was Stephens. She had closed the gap between them and was now sitting on the stool beside him.

"What are you doing?" she demanded.

"Drinking" he replied with a smart grin, McSteamy was back. He was not nervous anymore now that Lexie had left.

"With Lexie? What are you doing with her?" Izzie looked frustrated, she was frowning again and this caused her forehead to crease slightly. Mark would have thought that Izzie looked adorable only now she was aware he was after Lexie, was he that obvious?

"Nothing" he replied keeping his answers short. Now he was nervous again.

"I don't believe you; I keep seeing you looking at her." Relaxing now Izzie realised Mark wanted Lexie, he melted in front of her. He had no power over her like he had with the nurse's or most females. And it was quiet entertaining to watch! Lexie wouldn't consider Mark, Izzie was certain of this. Lexie was the kind of girl who would dream about Sloan but considered herself out of his league even if she was not.

"Stephens it doesn't matter who you see me looking at or what you think it means because your opinion and your thoughts don't matter." He snapped.

She smiled at him and then turned her attention back to the bar. She knew he was after Lexie. And she knew she interfered too much so stopped questioning him. She waved at Joe to get his attention

"Joe get him another scotch, he needs it."

Mark knew he had just exposed his secret to her but she had dropped it, his comment was intended to be firm and maybe even hurt her but she saw right through it. Feeling he needed to break the silence that had now developed between them he changed the subject.

"So I hear I have competition." He said.

She looked at him blankly and he continued.

"Dr. Karev, he seems to be aiming to sleep with all the female staff in the hospital?"

This time his comment hurt, "yeah, he is." she replied

She didn't want to talk about this but he continued.

"Well I'll be happy when he takes the hospital manwhore title away from me."

"Really, I thought you enjoyed it, you certainly act like you do or you wouldn't have gotten it in the first place." She replied honestly.

"I'm getting tired of it." He said realising that if he came accross as a reformed man to Izzie she might pass the message on to Lexie. He sipped the new scotch that Joe had just placed in front of him. "I don't enjoy the title, just the sex." He smirked.

Sex, that's something Izzie had not had in a long time and she missed it. After spending the night with Alex following Ava's departure Izzie thought sex was something she might get on a regular basis. She hoped that when Alex was ready he would come to her. This never happened though. She bitterly remembered seeing him with another woman in their house. He had moved on but not to her. Her heart was hurting again and then she realised she was thinking about Alex again. Remembering her promise in the locker room before she came to Joe's she blocked Alex from her mind.

She looked at Sloan and wished she could be more like him. He could just sleep with anyone he liked. He had a reputation but did not care. She wished she could just let go and not care about consequences. But the last time she did that she ended up with George and that was a disaster. She just needed the right person to be with. And she wanted to be with someone now. Izzie Stephens could sleep around too. Meredith did, Sloan did and Alex sure as hell did. Sure she was a relationship kinda girl but maybe she could take a break from relationships and just have sex. Great mind blowing sex with no consequences. It would clear her mind and make her forget about Alex. It was a brilliant idea. And sitting beside her was the perfect guy for her needs. Sloan wouldn't care that she was just using him for sex and it would be one night anyway so why would it matter. And if she didn't know what an ass he was she was certain she would be extremely attracted to him. He was McSteamy after all and he didnt have that name for nothing. She could tell he had an amazing body under his shirt, his shoulders were broad and he smelt amazing. He looked over at her and for the first time she noticed he had blue eyes. She loved blue eyes. He continued to talk something about a surgery he had tomorrow morning and he finished his drink. He got up and threw some cash on the bar.

And left.

What happened next surprised even Izzie. She threw back her drink grabbed her jacket and ran after Sloan.


	3. Chapter 3

_Love the reviews! Keep em coming._

By the time Izzie caught up with Mark she was reconsidering her plan. In the bar it had seemed so simple but now a new feeling caught hold of her. She was nervous. Izzie could not remember the last time she had asked for sex. She barely knew Dr. Sloan and she worked with him and sleeping with a colleague had been disastrous for both her and her friends. But she couldn't shake her desire to be held and her needs out weighted any doubts she was having. She was standing in front of him saying nothing.

"Stephens did you want something?" he asked.

Izzie moved closer to him and before he knew it her lips had crashed into his. Mark knew immediately how to react and returned her kiss with equal passion and desire.

When he heard her calling him, he thought he had left something in the bar, his phone or wallet. He had given up on taking her home with him tonight. He hadn't even tried to flirt with her believing she would not fall for any of his best McSteamy lines. But now kissing her he knew she needed a release from something. She needed someone the same way he needed someone to distract him from Lexie.

Their kiss was heated. She had her arms around his neck while he had grabbed her waste. Their tongues explored each other massaging roughly. There was an urgency about the way she kissed him; she needed him to take her now. All nervous were forgotten and she gained confidence from his kiss. She broke the kiss, not wanting it to end but afraid she would not be able to control herself for much longer. She looked into his eyes which were filled with desire.

"Can we take this somewhere more private?"

Mark did not need to be told twice, hailing a cab they jumped in and began kissing like teenagers again. He was an amazing kisser just as Izzie expected. Their hands roamed over each others bodies exploring each other. Izzie moaned in anticipation of what lay ahead of her in his hotel room. She couldn't focus on where the cab was taking her all she knew was that the driver needed to get them to their destination quickly.

If Mark could read minds in that moment he would have known that Izzie was thinking the same thing as he was. He was just about to offer the cab driver extra to go faster when they turned a corner and he saw his hotel.

By the time they reached his hotel room both Izzie and Mark could not control themselves. He tore her top off and quickly freed her breasts from her bra while Izzie feverishly undid the buttons on his shirt and ran her hands over his bare chest, his body was like ones she had seen in magazines or in her dreams, no wonder the nurses were disappointed when he didn't suggest a repeat performance. Mark was removing her jeans while Izzie undid his belt. There was no need to rush now but they couldn't slow down, Izzie and Mark both kicked off their shoes and pulled off their pants only breaking their kissing for a matter of seconds. They stumbled messily to the bed where Izzie lay down. Mark removed her underwear while caressing her breasts. Izzie moaned softly and sat up to free him from his boxers. There was no going back now and neither of them wanted to either. Mark grabbed a condom from his bedside locker and quickly rolled it onto his hard erection. Izzie lay back on the bed and gasped as he entered her slowly. Izzie wrapped her legs around him as he had fantasized about her doing earlier that night. Izzie felt everything she had needed that night. Their bodies fused together giving them both what they needed. Their release. This was quick, mindless, selfish sex and they both loved it, each taking all the other was giving.

Mark rolled onto his back; they were both out of breath. They lay beside each other recovering. After a few minutes had past Izzie got up and began dressing.

"Are you going?" Mark asked surprised. Most women stayed the night with him.

"Yes" she replied casually. Once she was dressed she tried to fix her hair with her fingers.

Mark thought she looked amazing and said "You can stay if you want."

She picked up her jacket,

"No, I better go. Thanks"

And with that she left leaving Mark alone. He could get used to this, beautiful Izzie Stephens coming over for sex, no strings attached and no expectations. Suddenly he realised that he did not want what happened to be a one night stand. This didn't happen often to him. He did not want a relationship and he had not forgotten about his quest for Lexie, but there was something about what had just happened between him and Stephens that he wanted more of. And he intended to get it.


	4. Chapter 4

_Here's the next chapter, this is kind of a filler so a bit dull. Promise more Mark and Izzie in the new chapter. Oh and realise I've been spelling Steven's wrong, Woops, cheers for pointing it out. _

Alex could not sleep; he sighed as the body beside him turned over in the bed and snuggled closer to him. He wished it was the morning because then she would leave and he would ignore her in work like he did with all the rest of the girls he'd bedded lately. The past month he had a constant flow of different girls in his bed but it had started with Izzie. That night with Izzie was why he could not sleep, why he was sleeping with so many women and why he couldn't stop thinking about Izzie Stevens. He was certain he would end up with her, Izzie was his soul mate and it scared the hell out of him so now he was pushing her away by sleeping with nurses, many many nurses. He knew he was hurting her, he could see it in her face, she was disappointed in him, but it's what he deserved. He was hurting Izzie so someone other than himself would be mad at him. He knew it was a twisted kind of logic but it made sense to him.

Alex heard a car pull up to the house and a door banging. He knew it wasn't Meredith she had come home hours ago. He assumed Izzie was home. He gently got out of bed so as not to wake Kelly the new nurse. He opened his door and went out to the hall only to find Izzie sneaking into her room.

"Iz, I thought you came home hours ago, where were you?"

Izzie smiled at him, her smile lit up her face as she smugly replied.

"Nowhere, just out." She opened the door and Alex suddenly felt a sudden pang of jealousy.

"Until two in the morning?"

"Yes, night Alex" and with that she had disappeared into her bedroom.

Alex wished she had stayed and talked to him. He did not know if he should be worried that she was with another man or nervous that she was in need of a friend and he was being such an ass to her lately. He doubted that she would confide in him. Sighing he returned to his room.

* * *

The next day when Izzie woke up she felt amazing. She felt like she was ready to start a new chapter in her life, a good chapter. She smiled as she replayed last night with Mark Sloan back in her mind. She never thought it would be possible but Mark Sloan had made her happy. She got up at seven and decided to go for a run. She was going to get fitter, eat healthier, because as a doctor she should be a role model for her patients, and forget all her previous worries. She ran for an hour feeling more alive than she had in months. When she returned to the house and quickly showered. Then she went to the kitchen where she started baking Meredith's favourite muffins, part of her being a better roommate kick. She was just about to put them in the oven when she saw Nurse Kelly sneak out of the house. New Izzie was going to be nice to this girl seen as it was obvious that Alex would not be. Feeling bad for Kelly, she followed her and called out her name. Kelly did not realise she had been seen. She was mortified leaving in her crumpled clothes from the previous day being caught by a colleague.

"Hi, Dr. Steven's isn't it? I did not realise you lived here."

"Yeah I do, this is Meredith Grey's house, Have you meet her yet? It's a busy house with me Alex, Mer and Derek, Dr. Sheppard, the neuro surgeon? He's dating Meredith." realising she was rambling she stopped to ask "Would you like some coffee, I just made some?"

Part of Kelly wanted to run out of the house, but she was new and one of the Doctors where she worked was offering her coffee. Plus she did not really know many people in Seattle and Dr. Steven's seemed nice and friendly. For a moment when she was leaving she thought she might have been Alex's girlfriend but now it seemed that they were just roommates she relaxed.

"Oh, I'd love some coffee just a quick one ." she smiled as she accepted the invitation.

Izzie laughed, "My names Izzie. No need to be formal here"

"Ok Izzie, as you know I am Kelly. Wow something smells wonderful, are you baking at this hour?" Kelly asked as she followed Izzie into the kitchen. Izzie impressed her. She looked great for half 8 in the morning and she baked. They chatted easily for the next half hour and Kelly had to admit she was developing a girl crush on Izzie. They laughed as Izzie filled her in on hospital need to know gossip. Meredith had joined them too but she was still asleep and seemed disgusted at how bright and awake Izzie was. Kelly was just about to leave when Alex entered the kitchen.

"Morning" he yawned to Mer and Izzie, when he saw Kelly still there he asked, "I thought you left?"

"Alex!" Izzie scolded, "You didn't even offer Kelly any breakfast so I took it upon myself to look after the poor girl."

Alex was horrified; the last thing he wanted was Izzie and Kelly becoming friends.

Feeling awkward now that Alex had come down for breakfast Kelly picked up her stuff

"Thanks for the coffee I better get going, down want to be late on my first week." She smiled and while Mer and Izzie cheerfully said bye she left.

"What's with giving her coffee?" Alex asked

Meredith chipped in, "Izzie's adopting your skanks and making sure they get a good breakfast, gotta make sure they get some nourishment." She joked.

"Their going to be my babies." Izzie joined in the joking "she's a nice girl Alex, you should take her out on a date?"

"I don't want to take her out on a date." Alex huffed picking up Izzie's cup and having a sip, "Ugh that's not coffee."

"Its green tea, Izzie's on a new health kick and cutting down on caffeine, she won't last a day." Meredith said sleepily.

"I'll last, I don't need caffeine to stay focused, and from now on I am going to be the most focused doctor Seattle Grace has even seen." Izzie smiled as she took her green tea from Alex and went upstairs to grab her bag for work.

"Seriously, what's with her?" Alex asked as he took a bite of a fresh muffin.

"I dunno, I came downstairs to find her scarily chirpy and chatting to that Kelly girl, I think she's getting some." Meredith replied casually as she also left the room to get ready for work.

Alex felt like Meredith had punched him in the stomach. Izzie was a relationship girl, but even the thoughts of her just having sex with someone that was not him killed Alex. Maybe this time he had pushed her away too hard.


	5. Chapter 5

_As promised Izzie and Mark come face to face in this chapter. Read and review!_

Izzie was having a brilliant day. She was working with who she always enjoyed working with. He had always encouraged her to do her best and his positive attitude was keeping her going. A patient had come in after having collapsed at work; they had found that he had a large tumour which would be incredibly difficult to operate on. Izzie had never enjoyed work as much as she did today. She watched and assisted Derek throughout one of the most challenging surgeries she had ever taken part on. The patient survived and now they were just waiting for him to wake up.

"That surgery was amazing" Izzie sighed "it must feel amazing to know that you alone saved that man's life."

"I was hardly alone Izzie, you assisted and the nurses, but yeah it feels great. You'll find as a surgeon that you'll start performing routine surgeries but then one case will come in like that and it challenges you and makes you remember why exactly you decided to become a doctor." Derek replied as they walked along the hall to the nurses' station. It was there that Izzie saw Dr. Sloan. For a moment her breath caught in her chest. She quickly recovered.

"Why did you become a brain surgeon Dr. Shepherd?" she asked trying to distract herself from the fact that within seconds she would be face to face with Sloan.

"For the money of course." Derek joked. They had reached the nurses' station where Mark was looking at a chart.

"Actually I believe that is the reason Mark went into plastics." Derek continued.

"What now?" Mark asked looking up from his work and immediately noticing the pretty doctor standing beside his best friend.

"I was telling Dr. Stevens here that you went into plastics purely for the money." Derek replied

"And the women." Mark replied casually, he yawned and continued "they just fall at your feet if you tell them you're a surgeon."

"And is it one of those women who have you so worn out today?" Izzie boldly asked nodding towards Sloans coffee.

Mark smirked. He had planned to corner her today, he was not sure what he would do but he would be taking her back to his hotel room again, that was for certain. However, it seemed now that she was flirting with him, this would be easier than he thought.

Derek studied Mark. Stevens was right he did look tired.

"Ha good catch, this is why you will make a great surgeon. You are extremely diligent, and more than likely correct." Izzie beamed; of course she knew she was correct.

"So who kept you up late Mark?" Derek enquired.

"Oh you don't know her." He responded winking at Stevens who rolled her eyes.

"Pretty?" Derek asked

"Not particularly." He replied, noticing Izzie smiling as she searched for a pen.

"Where did you pick her up?" Derek asked not noticing the glances both Stevens and Sloan were giving each other.

Izzie looked amazing today. She had her curls tied back into a loose pony tail and she had a sparkle in her eyes. After she had left his hotel room last night she was all he thought about.

"Joe's" he replied keeping his voice as monotone as possible.

"Does she go there often?" Derek asked, usually Mark would be spilling all the details about his nights with various women but today he seemed uninterested.

"Maybe, if she does I never noticed her before, like I said not much to look at, an ok figure, but she desperately came on to me, and I felt sorry for her, that's how she ended up in by bed."

At this point Izzie was amused. Derek was confused; it was not like Mark to sleep with anyone out of pity. Frowning he asked,

"Will you be seeing her again?"

"Yes, she'll be back for more." Mark sounded bored now.

"How can you be sure?" Izzie asked thinking he'd be lucky if he ever saw her outside of work again not to mention in his bed.

"I know desperate women, and she was a classic case." He replied closing the chart he was working on. "She'll be back"

"Oh god, was she a clinger and wouldn't leave?" Derek asked still oblivious to the two Doctors smirks.

Izzie was dying to hear Sloan's response to Derek's question. She was not desperate maybe she had kind of thrown herself at Sloan last night but she had left, she was not clingy. She had gone there for once off sex, so why was she undressing Sloan with her eyes now?

"No she left after." Mark stated remembering his disappointment when Izzie had left his room. Usually he would be delighted that he was being left alone to sleep but it was different with her. He put it down to the fact that she was a model. What man would want a model leaving their bed? He knew he was simplifying things with that nonsensical answer but he did not want to complicate things by thinking about anything else other than getting Izzie back in his bed.

"Oh" Izzie said knowingly signing off on a chart before handing it to a nurse.

"What?" Derek asked. It sounded like Izzie knew more about what was going on here than both Mark and he did.

"Well she left right? Most women leave when the sex is not good. If it was good she would have stayed."

Derek's eyes lit up as he started laughing.

"Again well spotted Izzie, this girl is going to be the best surgeon." He joked

"Steven's, maybe you would like to find out for yourself tonight if she left because it was bad?" Mark smirked and leaned in on the counter closer to Izzie, frustrated that she had made Derek laugh at him.

"Maybe I'll find her and ask her myself. Only she knows how you performed last night."

"Or I could show you?" he asked again.

With this a nurse approached Derek,

"Dr. Shepherd there's a call for you in line four."

"I'll take it in my office thanks. And Mark stop trying to sleep with my roommate. Izzie's a classy girl, far too classy for you." Derek said as he left Mark and Izzie alone. Izzie was now studying another chart but was fully aware of the body heat radiating off Mark beside her.

"So, desperate and unattractive am I?" she smiled at him.

"And I'm bad in bed? Steven's no one will believe that lie." He responded stepping even closer to her.

"Who said it was a lie?" she smirked

"I know it is a lie, but if last night is a bit unclear to you come over to mine later and I'll make sure that you will be singing my praises in morning."

She looked at him and realised how much she wanted him. And she was lying, last night the sex was amazing, she wanted more. One more time would not hurt.

"Ok , I'll be over at ten." She tapped his coffee cup with her pen and said

"You better drink that up before it goes cold. You'll need all your energy for later."


	6. Chapter 6

Izzie quickly realised that her and Mark would not just be a one night thing or a two night thing. It had become a "thing". And it was a great "thing" at that. Most nights in the weeks following their first encounter Izzie returned to Marks hotel. They were now in a routine. Mark usually finished work before Izzie, unless Izzie was working with him in which case he would make someone else finish off her work and take her home earlier. They would go to his hotel, sometimes they talked about their days and then have sex, but mostly they just had sex. It was passionate and exciting sex. On two occasions they had even ended up having a massive screaming match which ended up with even more sex. They never had sex in Izzie's house or in the hospital, Marks room was their playground. Mark was surprised that it never got boring with Izzie; in fact he enjoyed it more every time she came over. She had made sex new and exciting for him again. However it annoyed Mark that she always left following their endeavours. He had asked her to stay many times, he had even asked her why she always left and she would always shrug and tell him that she liked waking up in her bed.

Izzie knew the real reason she did not stay was because she was afraid she would start to fall for Mark. She liked him, a bit. She liked the sex and it was a nice discovery to find that he was not the ass he seemed to be in the hospital. The truth was Izzie was a relationship kinda girl and staying over was crossing the line into relationship territory. She was happy now. Knowing that if Mark ended their "thing" tomorrow it would not upset her, she would not cry and she would not be left feeling broken was an amazing feeling.

As Izzie had originally planned Mark had helped her move on from Alex. She still thought about Alex but not as much and seeing him with other women did not affect her as much anymore. When she wasn't spending time in the hospital she was spending time with her friends, studying or with Mark. Izzie was happy, her life was great. Izzie's vow to get fitter, eat better and be an all round better person was going very well. She had really made an effort to get her relationship with George back to better than it was before they had slept together. It was going really well. In fact tonight was his birthday and Izzie and Lexie had organised a party in Joes for George.

The party was in full swing when Mark stepped into the bar. He spotted Lexie immediately. She was laughing with some of the other interns. Mark went to the bar and ordered a scotch. Izzie was working for him, distracting him from Lexie, but seeing Lexie in the bar again brought all his old feelings for her rushing back to him. He still could not figure out what it was about the young Grey sister but he was unable to stop looking at her anytime she walked past him in the hospital or in the bar.

Mark turned as he felt someone move beside him. Izzie put her clutch bag on the bar and smiled at him.

"I'll have a screwdriver." she looked amazing Mark observed. Her hair was pinned up and she was wearing a purple dress which was short enough to show off her long legs. Mark placed her order and as she took a sip she commented with a cheeky smile.

"I was right wasn't I?"

"What?"

Izzie leaned in closer, she smelled amazing, she lowered her voice and answered,

"Lexie, you like her."

"Izzie I think your imaging things." He replied,

"No, you're imaging things if you think you can convince otherwise. I've noticed, you're not subtle about it either. Other people might not have noticed yet, but I have."

Mark felt uncomfortable. Izzie knew, the woman he had been sleeping with for the past while was on to him. He was just about to reply when Alex approached Izzie.

"Iz, can I get you a drink?" he asked

"No thanks, I'm good, Sloan here bet you to it," she smiled as she lifted her glass to him.

"The party is going really well." Alex commented nervously.

"Yep" she shrugged and what followed was a really long uncomfortable silence. Mark noticed that there was some tension between the two of them. Izzie was looking into her drink and Alex was ordering a drink for himself.

"You coming Iz?" Alex asked as he headed back to the table.

"Yeah, be there in a second." She said.

When Alex had gone Mark turned to Izzie

"What was that about?"

"That's why I come to you now and then." she said honestly "Alex and I have a messy history, Alex and I are just messy. We never work out I just have to forget him. You're helping me."

"Like distracting you?" he asked surprised that they were both turning to each other to forget someone else.

"Yes, you're my distraction. I hope you don't feel like I'm using you?" she looked at him directly in the eyes.

"No" feeling it was his turn to share he continued, "Your right you know, I do like Lexie, but she's just too good for me. So I'll be honest, you distract me from her. I hope you don't feel used?"

She smiled and slid off her stool "No, not at all. Can I distract you later?"

"Yes, I'd love it if you did; you do a great job of distracting me." he smirked

She smiled and walked back to join her friends.

As Mark watched her leave he quickly finished his drink and left to go to the hotel and wait for Izzie to join him. All thoughts of Lexie were left in the bar.


	7. Chapter 7

_Thanks for the reviews keep em coming! Disclaimer: I dont own anything!_

After Mark left the bar Izzie planned to stay for about ten minutes and then leave. She joined her friends and was trying to think of a good excuse so no one would guess that she was going to Sloan's hotel room. She sat down beside Christina and listened to her conversation with Meredith. They were talking about a patient that Izzie had not worked with so she easily zoned out. She looked over to where Lexie was talking to another intern. Izzie felt relieved that Mark was interested in Lexie. It made her feel better that their little fling was even more meaningless. Izzie never thought she would want to sleep with a guy who had no feelings for her other than sexual. She wasn't even sure Mark liked her and it really did not bother her. She was in control and there were no feelings involved. Sure their thing would end one day but she would deal with it then.

Izzie was so deep in thought that she did not notice Alex sitting down on her left. It had gotten cold and Izzie shivered a little. She became aware of Alex when he said,

"You cold?"

She smiled at him deciding that she really needed to fix their relationship. She still wanted to be friends with Alex.

"Just a little." She replied and when he got his jacket and put it around her shoulders she was stunned. He brushed a piece of hair out of her eyes. Izzie looked into his eyes and felt he was trying to apologise without saying a word. That was not enough for her. This time he had really hurt her.

"Thank you." She whispered as he leaned in closer to her.

"Iz, I know I've been really horrible to you lately, and I have no reason to be. I don't know how to relax around you anymore. I know I should be thanking you for everything that you've done for me. I'm really sorry."

Izzie's mouth had hit the floor. Alex had just apologised and said thank you.

"Seriously?" she said, Alex laughed and nodded,

"Yeah, look Iz I don't like it when things are weird between us, you're very special to me and I know I can be an ass, but we're good right?"

"Yeah we're good." Izzie smiled back, "We've been better but we're good." Alex beamed at her. Izzie could not believe just how sweet Alex could be if only he showed that side of himself more often she thought as she finished her drink.

"Can I get you another?" he asked as he got up to go to the bar.

"No thanks, I'm going to run to the bathroom." She said getting up and removing his jacket.

As she fixed her makeup and her hair in the bathroom Izzie thought about what had happened in the past ten minutes. She now hoped that Alex and her could move on and just be friends, be great friends. She took one last look in the mirror and smiled. Things were really great for her, she had great friends, work was brilliant and enjoyable again and she had Mark, who she had no feelings for, to feed her beast.

She returned to tell Meredith that she had a headache and was going to go home when she saw Alex at the bar chatting up another nurse. For a moment her heart hurt. She felt sad and upset. Just when she felt they had taken a step forward her feelings knocked her two steps backward. Wanting to get out of there as quickly as she could Izzie found Meredith in the crowd.

"Mer, I've a headache, think I'm just going to go home. Will you tell George I couldn't stay?"

Meredith studied her friend; suddenly it seemed that Izzie could not wait to get out of Joe's and looking at the bar she thought she knew why.

"Iz, are you ok? Just ignore Alex and stay out?"

"No" Izzie replied "I just want to take a painkiller and get to bed." Knowing that what she really wanted and needed was to get to Marks hotel room. Grabbing her jacket Izzie left Joe's as fast as she could.

When Mark opened the door to the hotel room Izzie grabbed him quickly and kissed him wasting no time in shrugging off her jacket. This kiss was different from any off their previous kisses. Izzie seemed determined to remove their clothes as fast as possible and she seemed upset. Mark broke the kiss.

"Izzie are you ok?"

"Yes" she responded before crashing her lips back on to his. Mark again broke the kiss.

"Did something happen in Joe's?" he was frowning at her. Izzie was in a different mood than she was when he had seen her in the bar. She seemed more aggressive.

"For God's sake Mark, Just kiss me and get your clothes off! I don't want to talk about the bar I just want to have sex." Izzie said, frustrated that Mark picked this moment to start talking.

"Stevens, I'm not having sex with you until you tell me what is wrong. Don't get me wrong I love angry sex but I don't want to have sex with you if you're upset."

"Fine!" Izzie huffed throwing her handbag on the floor and sitting on his bed.

"Its just Alex being an ass as usual, like we're not together and it's not like I want us to be together again but he is just rubbing it in my face that he is sleeping with the female population of Seattle. I don't care but it just gets to me."

Mark joined her on the bed.

"Feel better now?" he said stroking her cheek

"Yes, thanks, I'm sure you're not interested but it was good to get that off my chest." Izzie was smiling again, she looked gratefully at him. Mark thought she looked really pretty smiling and was a lot calmer. He leaned closer to her as kissed her neck gently.

"I could think of something else you could get off your chest." He whispered as she laughed.

He continued to slowly kiss her neck and then moved his way up to her mouth. This time when they kissed it was slow. Izzie realised how much she loved sex with Mark. It was amazing; he certainly earned the name McSteamy she thought as she removed her dress. He smiled at her hungrily as she began unbuttoning his shirt. When all their clothes were removed Mark pushed Izzie back onto the bed and explored her body by kissing her lightly all over. Her need to hurry was gone as Mark made her forget all about Alex. Tonight he was in no rush.


	8. Chapter 8

_Stressed out with college work so took a bit of time out to write another chapter, hope you like it! Let me know if it was worth not studying :) _

Alex felt bad; he did not mean to end up flirting with that girl in Joe's last night. It was a mistake, and this girl had approached him but that was not a good enough excuse. He had not even noticed Izzie leaving that night until Meredith attacked him in the bar for being so insensitive. Apparently Izzie left because he was flirting according to Mer. When he heard this he could not help but feel happy, it meant Iz cared. She must have been really upset because when Alex got back to the house she was not there. She probably went to George's. Alex hoped that George did not convince her she was better off without him, even though he probably did. They were good friends and Alex had been treating Izzie very badly. He had decided last night he would stop it until that girl approached him everything had been going well. But now he felt he needed to do more grovelling. Izzie was the girl he was going to marry. He was sure of it ever since they had first dated only it scared him. Then he was not ready to settle down but now he just wanted to be with Izzie and no one else. That is why he had to fix things with Izzie and soon. Izzie was an amazing friend but she would not take his crap for long, he knew this. So now he was ready to take serious action.

Mark was in a bad mood ever since this morning everything was going wrong. When he woke up he was alone, Izzie must have left when he had fallen asleep, he hated that she left but he still did not expect her to stay so really he was not surprised. He had stubbed his toe really hard off the foot of the bed as he made his way to the bathroom where he cut himself shaving. When he finally left the hotel he found that he had left his car window open and the driver's seat was soaked because, of course, it was raining. When he got to work he decided getting an intern to get his coffee this morning would continue its current trend and go badly so he bought it himself only to knock it all over a patients notes when he sat down at his desk. His day could not get any worse! Oh but it did. Karev was assigned to him. He found Alex at the nurses' station pretending to be filling in notes. Mark had noticed that Alex's eyes had not left one spot for ten minutes, rounding the corner he found Alex was staring at Izzie and George. Walking up behind Karev he said,

"That chart won't read itself." Alex broke his stare and looked confused.

"What? Oh sorry Dr. Sloan I was distracted. Do you think their talking about me?"

"Do you think I'd care if they were Karev? Now get me a coffee." Mark barked and turned to walk away. He stopped when he saw that Alex had not moved but had returned to looking at Izzie.

"Karev, are you deaf? My coffee, I'm waiting!"

"I know I'll get it just give me a minute." Mark was furious, he wanted his stupid cappuccino and he wanted Karev to stop looking at Izzie as if he was picturing her naked.

"No I will not wait another second for my cappuccino, now Karev."

Alex looked pleadingly at Mark.

"Please, look I'm after screwing things up with Izzie and I need to make it up to her and in just a moment I will."

Now Mark was intrigued, he knew all about Alex and in his opinion the guy did not even deserve a first chance with Izzie not to mention a second or third for that matter.

"I don't care about you and Izzie, you are working with me today, and I want my coffee now." Mark said knowing that if he pushes Alex far enough he would blurt out everything about Izzie and if Mark was honest with himself he wanted to know exactly what was going on with Izzie and Alex. It was out of curiosity of course. Now Alex was begging him.

"Look I know you hate me and I know you need your coffee but please I need Izzie to know I am sorry, I really messed up this time, like she isn't even baking, but last night she stayed at Georges house, like her best friends, probably crying so I need to make it up."

Mark could not help but smirk, he knew well the last thing Izzie was doing last night was crying he thought as the memory of the night they had shared together came flooding back. Karev really was unbelievably stupid.

"What makes you think Stevens is interested in you?" Mark asked innocently. He knew all about Izzie's history with Alex but it would be interesting to get Karevs perspective.

"We're going to be together, we're soul mates. I know it and Izzie knows it." Alex answered simply, he found Mark easy to talk to about Izzie, he knew he would be shouted at soon and he knew he was pushing it by not running to get Sloan coffee but for some reason he seemed interested.

"You're very sure of yourself, so how are you going to get her back?" Mark asked.

"You know better than anyone else here that confidence will get you far with women, I have to be confident. Oh and you'll see just about now." Alex said as he spotted a man with a bunch of flowers approach the nurses' desk.

"Quick, pretend you're showing me a chart, I don't want her to see me staring at her." Alex was shocked when Mark did not leave but pretended to be pointing something out to him.

In the mean time Izzie was signing for a giant bunch of roses and looking at the card. She looked around where she saw Mark and Alex looking at a chart. Mark looked up and winked at her and Izzie blushed with delight, not noticing Alex smiling at her.

Oh god Mark Sloan is buying me flowers she thought.


	9. Chapter 9

_So school is over which means I've had a bit of time to update, hit a brick wall with this lately, know where its going just trying to get there. Any suggestions about what you'd like to happen would be greatly appreciated. Merry Christmas!!!_

Marks bad day had certainly improved. He spent the rest of his day keeping Alex as far away from Izzie as possible. Being the boss was definitely paying off today. Every time Alex set off to look for Izzie he barked orders and sent Alex miles away from her. Mark was loving the power he held over the young intern and loving the smiles he kept getting from Izzie. When he was paged to the on-call room he could not believe how much his day had improved. Entering the darkened room he was surprised when she pinned him against the wall and kissed him passionately. He was just processing what had happened when she pushed him away and poked him hard in the chest.

"Don't ever send me flowers again, do you hear? What were you thinking? Everyone keeps asking me who they are from and I have no idea what to say! There really lovely and I love them and I never get flowers so ya know thanks and all but don't do it again."

Mark smirked, her finger was pointing at him and she looked mad but her eyes sparkled.

"And who have you said there from?" knowing that he really should tell her they were not from him.

"I said I didn't know, and everyone knows I'm lying." She sighed.

"Do you not like them?" he asked pretending to be hurt. Her eyes shot up and met his stunned that he sounded so defeated.

"No Mark I, I really do love them it's just really not appropriate for you to send me flowers, especially in work. The me and you thing it's a sex thing, only about sex, not about flowers or anything else just good sex. But I love them, I swear, it was really sweet of you." Her tone softened and suddenly Mark felt bad for lying and taking the credit from Alex.

"Maybe you should tell that to Karev then." He whispered to her.

"What, Alex?" she frowned

"Yeah, he sent you the flowers, there 'sorry for flirting with the skanky nurse in front of you last night' flowers. Karev thinks that it will make everything right between you and him. He thinks you stayed with George last night crying over him"

Mark held his breathe as he waited for Izzie's response. He hoped the flowers would not make everything right, in his opinion flowers were not enough.

Izzie felt embarrassed, here she was giving out to Mark and dragging him even further into the mess that is her and Alex's relationship. She felt so mad at Alex, did he really think that flowers would make up for everything and that he thought she was still wasting her time crying over him.

"Did he really think that would work with me? He's so stupid. Oh God Mark I'm so sorry, I just assumed that they were from you, I don't know why you'd be sending me flowers, I wasn't thinking."

Mark laughed he was relieved that Karevs plan just made Izzie even more mad,

"Don't worry about it, now I know not to send you flowers. I do have something for you though" he said looking in his wallet and passing his key card to her, "I want you to go back to my place after work and just relax, I shouldn't be too late. And I'm not giving you a key; this is a sex thing and only a sex thing, isn't that how you put it?"

Izzie blushed, as she searched the floor for something to focus on. Mark closed the gap between them and cupped her face gently leaning closer and brushed their lips together. Izzie felt her stomach flutter as he stroked her cheek with his thumb. When they pulled apart their eyes locked together. They had never kissed like that before, all there kisses led to sex but this was just a kiss. Mark did not know where it came from; he wanted Izzie to know he was there for her. They were more than just a sex thing, they had become friends. Izzie broke the silence,

"I better go, don't leave me waiting too long." She smiled at him and exited the room.

Now that he was alone Mark realised he was not just keeping Karev away from Izzie today because he enjoyed torturing the intern, he was doing it to protect Izzie.


	10. Chapter 10

_Ok so here's the next chapter, hopefully I'll get more up soon. Please review! As always I don't own anything._

Over the next couple of weeks Izzie and Mark continued sleeping together. They were both surprised that none of their colleagues had realised that they spent many a night together. Mark guessed it was because Izzie never stayed over and had quickly lay down ground rules such as no sex in the hospital, no kissing in the hospital, no talking about sex in the hospital and so on. They often worked together but due to Izzie's instance they always remained professional.

Izzie had now gotten into a routine. Her promise not to pine after Alex was working. She had lost three pounds since deciding to change and had never felt healthier before in her life. She split her time between work, her friends, Mark, training and study. Every now and then she squeezed in baking and cooking. She began making dinner for all her house mates as it seemed pointless making dinner just for one. Usually she would leave dinner for Alex, Meredith and Derek aside for them to heat up when they got home.

Meredith was astounded by Izzie's new found energy. She loved that Izzie cooked for them, she was not under pressure to cook which was a good thing for everyone in the house. Izzie's new found happiness did not go unnoticed by her friends. Cristina said daily that it was unnatural that someone could be so happy but she agreed with Meredith that Izzie was better happy. Izzie tried to get all her friends to spend more time together which lead to their group becoming closer than ever before.

In work she was on top of her game, her piers were praising her and Izzie found that she was now seriously considering specialising in plastics. Previously plastics was just about boob jobs and facelifts for people who had too much money but she had recently assisted on a number of cases where she felt she had given her patients a new lease of life. One in particular, a young teenage girl called Jemma, who was attacked by a vicious dog and was severely scarred. Her parents had told Izzie that Jemma was depressed ever since the attack and had become withdrawn. Following her surgery Izzie noticed day by day that Jemma was gaining more and more confidence and watched as Jemma's mother had cried when thanking Mark who was more than uncomfortable as the crying woman hugged him in the hall of Settle Grace. The day after Izzie admitted to Mark that she was interested in plastics he had surprised her by giving her all his notes he had used to study plastics and gave her lists of case studies to read which Izzie found she could not put down.

Everything in Izzie's life was back on track and she had even struck up a good professional relationship with Callie. On a number of occasions Callie had joined Izzie and her friends in Joe's and the two girls had gotten drunk together and spent the night giggling in a corner about hospital gossip.

The only person Izzie was worried about was Alex. After she had received the flowers from him she realised she would need to talk to Alex. She told him that it was in appropriate to send her flowers and that she did not want any grand gestures from him, she just wanted friendship. Alex agreed and decided to give her some time and space while still pursuing her. Much to Marks annoyance Alex would bring Izzie coffee or cupcakes almost on a daily basis. With these small gestures he hoped to win Izzie back.

Mark was also happier than he had been in a long time. He put it down to his work being challenging, his friendship with Derek back on track and regular sex from a hot blonde doctor. Nowadays he rarely bumped into Lexie and found he did not think about her as often as he used to. On nights when Izzie was busy he would go for a drink with Callie and Erica or catch up with Derek. He felt that his friendship with Derek was even stronger than it was when they lived in New York. Derek was a changed man now than he was living with Meredith, and Mark enjoyed hearing the stories Derek had from living in what seemed to be a crazy house. Derek told him about Izzie and Alex's interactions in the house and joked about how Izzie was making Alex jump through hoops just to talk to her.

Derek was oblivious as to why Mark was so interested in the strange happenings in his house but was happy to be able to talk and sometimes bitch about his housemates. He was aware that Marks birthday was today and planned to go for a drink with him after work, however he had forgotten that Meredith had made a reservation for her favourite restaurant that night and it was the first night they had gotten off together in a long while. He was just finishing a night shift with Izzie Stevens and was looking forward to going home and sleeping. He and Izzie were talking in the hall when Mark approached. Nervously Derek took a deep breath.

"Mark now don't kill me but I know we have a tradition and we go for drinks every year but"

"But your busy, it's ok." Mark said. Derek was surprised, ever since college the birthday drink was a routine and the rule was that no woman pulled rank on their boy's night. At this point Izzie butted in

"What's so special about tonight?"

"Marks Birthday and we always go out for a drink." Derek explained "Mark I could go for a quick one with you it's just Meredith got this reservation and she really wants to go to this restaurant and usually it's booked out." Derek stopped when Mark held his hand up.

"No its fine Derek, have a good time." Derek was about to respond when Izzie said accusingly.

"You never said it was your birthday."

"Would you have baked him a cake?" Derek smirked not realising that Izzie's mind was racing, she did not like that Mark had not told her. Izzie blushed realising it was inappropriate to be attacking her boss for not telling her what date was his birthday.

"I don't really like birthday cake anyway. But I can think of something else Dr. Stevens could give to me later." Mark said grinning at the blonde doctor while she rolled her eyes. Honestly he hated pretending to be hitting on her, it made him realise how sleazy some of his lines sounded but she insisted that he always act like "McSteamy" would.

"Ha you never give up do you Mark? Just ignore him Izzie he'll never learn." Derek added as he gathered his things to go home. "Do you want a lift home?" he asked her.

"Sure, I'll just grab my bag; I'll meet you out front." She said and headed to the locker room. On her way she checked the board to see when Mark would be in surgery. He may not like birthday cake but Izzie would make sure he celebrated his birthday like never before.


	11. Chapter 11

_Hey, its been awhile since I updated so if your still with this story sorry!! Hope to get more chapters up soon. Please review :)_

Izzie Stevens had modelled for years but even now, even after numerous photo shoots in various outfits she still felt ridiculous posing seductively on a bed. She was wearing new black lacy lingerie, suspenders and black stockings but she still felt stupid. No matter how many photographers and assistants told her she looked fabulous and sexy she never believed them.

Right now she was taken back to all her years off modelling, but this time she was not surrounded by photographers and makeup artists calming her nervous, right now she was lying on Mark Sloan's bed with a plate of strawberries and a bottle of champagne chilling on his night stand.

Izzie hoped this was not a mistake. Mark should be home soon and seen as she had been already waiting for him for an hour Izzie was distracting herself by flicking through a magazine. Izzie was pretty sure Mark would love her waiting for him and she would make sure that he would enjoy what followed but god right now she did not feel confident or sexy.

Maybe Mark would not want to see her tonight, maybe he was going to go to Joe's and pick up some random girl. He was Mark Sloan after all and Izzie was sure that on nights when he was not with her he would be with some other woman. And the great thing was she did not care, but she would care if he arrived home with some girl on his arm. All of a sudden Izzie was panicking. She should never have done this; anytime they had sex it was always arranged.

Izzie jumped as her phone alerted her that she had just received a text, grabbing it out of her bag she saw it was from Mark. He was in Joe's and wanted to see her later. She replied telling him she'd see him in half an hour at his hotel. Putting her phone back in her bag Izzie returned to her position on the bed and continued to read her magazine. Now she felt safe knowing Mark would not bring some girl from Joe's back she returned to feeling stupid for posing in her underwear.

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Mark had a long, horrible day. And on top of everything today he was another year older and nothing to show for it. He was in his late thirties and had a crush on Lexie Grey. He was a man in his late thirties who acted like a teenage boy around the young intern. It was embarrassing and humiliating. He had spent his day with her on his service and every moment of it was uncomfortable and awkward for him, but Lexie did not even notice him. If he was not her boss she would never even look at him because Lexie has eyes only for George.

At least he had Izzie to make him feel like an actual grown up man. But it had been Izzie's day off so he had not seen her since this morning. As he was finally leaving the hospital Callie grabbed him and dragged him to Joe's with her, Erica and Cristina. She wouldn't let him just go home and sleep on his birthday and despite all his protests she finally got him to Joe's.

Mark hated celebrating his birthday, his family barely acknowledged it anymore. Growing up his birthday was a huge event. All of his mothers friends threw big parties for their children's birthdays so Caroline Sloan did the same for her son's birthday. Each year Caroline was on a mission to make Marks party the envy of all her friend. Guests would tell her what an amazing mother she was to throw such outstanding parties but Mark hated them. And as Caroline Sloan inflated her ego Mark grew to hate his birthday. Today he had received a brief call from his mother.

Going to Joe's cheered him up. Scotch certainly took the edge off the day. He chatted to his co-workers but his mind kept wandering back to Izzie. He really wanted her company tonight and he was surprised he had not heard from her all day. He had seen her briefly this morning while talking to Derek and she knew it was his birthday, surely she want to give him birthday sex?

Mark began to wonder if Izzie was starting to get bored with their arrangement. Maybe she was dating some other guy, or maybe she was beginning to forgive Alex. Mark grabbed his phone and quickly sent a text to her wondering if she would stop by tonight. Smiling when he received a reply he finished off his drink and said bye to the girls.

Relief had flooded his body when he had received Izzie's text. He could not wait to see her. Maybe he was becoming to reliant on her but right now he did not care. Walking in to the hotel he could not wait to see Izzie, to hold her, kiss her and have amazing sex with her. That's all he wanted for his birthday. In the lift he decided he would grab a quick shower before Izzie would arrive.

His plans soon changed as he opened the door to his hotel room. Lying on his bed was his favourite lingerie model, wearing stilettos, stockings and black lace. Mark realised he finally had a reason to like birthdays.


	12. Chapter 12

_Hoping in the next few weeks to finish this story, not sure if that is very likely. Anyway here is the next chapter, by the way I love reviews._

_Disclaimer: I dont own any characters etc  
_

The next morning Mark woke to find he was not alone in his bed, his arms were wrapped around Izzie and Mark could not help but smile as he watched the blonde sleep. Last night she had given him the best birthday he had ever had and it was not just because she dressed up and they had amazing sex, it was because she was there being his friend, they talked for a few hours and she did not leave. This was the first morning Izzie had broken her rule of never staying over and Mark could not be happier.

As Mark lightly kissed her bare shoulder Izzie began to wake up. At first unsure of her surroundings she soon notice the strong pair of arms wrapped around her body. Crap, she had stayed over. Praying that this would not change the relationship she had with Mark, wait did she just think of this as a relationship, it was sex pure and simple, no feelings were now or ever would be involved right?

"Morning" a husky voice whispered in her ear distracting her from her thoughts.

"Morning" she returned as she adjusted herself to face Mark.

"You stayed." He commented as he continued to kiss her shoulder.

"Yeah sorry, I don't remember falling asleep." At Izzie's reply he frowned.

"Don't say sorry, you know I want you to stay over."

"Yeah well I better get going." Izzie sighed as she made to get out of bed, her head throbbing slightly from the champagne she drank last night. Stopping her from moving Mark began kissing her lips and soon Izzie was returning his kiss.

"You could stay a little longer." Mark suggested.

Running into the hospital Izzie realized another reason she did not like the idea of staying at Mark's was that it would inevitably lead to sex in the morning, and that would lead to her being late for work like she was now. He was not due in for another few hours and she had completely lost track of time, though smiling to herself she realized it was totally worth it.

But now late she looked a mess. She had tried to quickly shower at Marks but that was interrupted when her joined her in the shower. Joining her colleagues in the locker room she received little attention only Meredith smirking at her, knowing the state Izzie was in, both late and tired looking, was due to a marathon of sex. Quickly changing into her scrubs she threw her hair up into a messy bun and followed the others to begin rounds. Relieved that she had not been too late after all Izzie began to relax.

She was assigned to a case with Alex. A young girl had been admitted with a rare growth and both Izzie and Alex were buried in books researching similar cases on Baileys orders. Suddenly Alex spoke,

"You didn't come home last night" Izzie immediately noticed the sad tone in his voice as Alex continued "I made dinner." Izzie gulped as Alex searched for an answer from her. But what could she say. She did not want anyone to know about her and Mark, but she did not want to give Alex some kind of false hope.

"Crap, Alex I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were cooking? Actually I did not even realize you could cook!" she joked trying to steer the conversation away from where she actually was last night but she could still feel Alex's eyes intently on her.

"It's ok, it probably tasted like crap anyway. So, where were you?" Izzie froze, how on earth would she answer this.

"I went to Joe's and you weren't there and I knew yesterday was your day off so you would not be here." He paused but when Izzie said nothing he continued with a more direct approach.

"Are you seeing someone Iz?"

Izzie stared back into his hurt eyes, it was taking all her will power to keep her in her chair and not to reach out and hug him. She hated seeing him hurting and this time it was over her. The problem Izzie knew from her past was that she could easily go running back to Alex in an attempt to fix him, put his needs before hers. But that would do more damage than good. She was not in a place where she could love him as much as he deserved. Despite the huge horrible ass he had been to her deep deep deep down Izzie knew just what a great guy Alex was.

"Alex, it's really complicated. I'm kinda seeing someone. It's nothing serious, it could easily end tomorrow but it's just a thing that I need right now. I need time, I know this is gonna sound strange coming from me but I am sick of jumping from relationship to relationship. Like in the past two years there's been Hank, you, Denny and George. I just need some me time and this guy gives it to me, there's no pressure, if I don't want to see him I don't have to."

"Do I know him?"

"No" Izzie lied, she hated lying to him but if he knew it was Mark soon everyone would know and it would ruin what they were doing. Plus it could easily ruin Mark's chances with Lexie as the young doctor was quite fond of Izzie and would never go out with Mark if she believed they had a thing. Izzie smiled to herself at how selfless she would be when it comes to Mark. She would have no problem standing back and letting their relationship develop. She even believed Lexie would be good for Mark, it really was a pity she was so hung up on George.

"Iz if this guy hurts you, you'll let me know right?"

Izzie smiled at her friend, "He won't but thanks. So we're ok?"

"Course." Alex returned her smile "And I understand what you mean about not being in a relationship for awhile but you know the offers always on the table with me. Oh and if you ever just need sex just give me a shout." Izzie laughed.

"So will you make me dinner tonight?"

"Only if you bake something nice for me." He smirked.

"Deal." She smiled back.


	13. Chapter 13

_On a bit of a roll with this story at the moment, don't know how long it will last but reviews will help!!_

**Disclaimer:**_**I do not own Grey's Anatomy or any of its characters**_.

As the weeks moved on Izzie began to feel more comfortable staying over at Marks. She did so maybe once or twice a week. Meredith also began to notice Izzie's absence in the house they shared and confronted her at lunch one day in front of their friends following a comment that Cristina had made about how boring their lives had become.

"I have not been on a good case in a week!" Cristina exclaimed "And there is nothing interesting happening in this hospital. There is no gossip, no one is sleeping around, I don't even think Sloan is getting any. I know I defiantly am not."

"Izzie is." Meredith interjected and suddenly all faces turned to stare at Izzie. Not knowing what to say Izzie just kept quiet and waited for all the questions that would follow Meredith's statement.

"Who are you sleeping with?" Cristina asked followed by George who looked shocked asking

"Since when have you been sleeping with someone? You never mentioned it to me!" When Izzie did not answer the attention returned to Meredith and suddenly Izzie began to panic that maybe Meredith knew about her and Mark, maybe she had seen something or maybe he had told Derek who had told Meredith.

"Who is she sleeping with?" Cristina demanded.

"I dunno," Meredith shrugged "all I know is some nights she does not sleep at home and she looks all happy and content the next day like the beast has been feed." She finished by taking a bite of her apple while the attention returned to Izzie.

"What?" she asked innocently.

"Who is he?" Cristina choked out again, if work was going to suck she would need gossip to help her through her day.

"No one you know." Izzie said growing more and more uncomfortable.

"Izzie we need details, spill!" Cristina demanded, "Does he work here? Is he a Doctor? Your not sleeping with a nurse are you? Cos if you are I'd keep that one quiet too?"

At this point Alex joined in the conversation not enjoying seeing the look of discomfort on Izzie's face.

"Cristina leave it, she doesn't wanna say." An incredulous look appeared on Cristina's face followed by one of understanding.

"You knew didn't you?" Alex now found himself at the centre of attention.

"Course I did, we live together." He stated simply as Izzie smiled gratefully at him. A second later she was grateful again when she was paged urgently. Quickly gathering her things she said bye to her friends knowing she would be the main topic of conversation when she left the table.

"Alex your ok with Izzie and who ever this guy is?" Meredith asked softly realising that her revelation about Izzie's sex life could have been hurtful for Alex.

"Yeah, sure." He responded trying to sound as casual as possible.

"But was something not going on with you two, I thought ye were going to get back together awhile ago?" George asked his face crinkled in confusion, he was sure Izzie had told him that she had slept with Izzie just after the Rebecca/Ava thing blew up.

"I blew it," Alex admitted "I don't know who this guy is that she's with but I know she's happy, she says its not serious but she said that about Denny in the beginning so who knows." Alex said but the other three were not oblivious to the sad tone in his voice.

Ever since he had confronted Izzie about not coming home that one night it began to happen more frequently but Alex could see that it wasn't really serious. One night he had asked her for help studying and she had cancelled her plans with her mystery guy. They had gotten closer over recent weeks and often they would cook for each other on nights when she would be home. They were developing a very close bond and Alex finally felt that they were over any hurt they had caused each other in the past. Her dumping him for Denny and more recently him bringing home random sluts. Whatever that period in his life was about it was now over. He put it down to getting over Ava and now saw that Izzie had put bad times in her life behind her, he could do the same. He still had feelings for Izzie that was for sure but he would have to put them on the back burner at least for now.

"So has she told you any details about who the guy is?" Cristina asked still digging for gossip.

"Nope, and I wouldn't tell you if I knew." Deciding he was tired of concentrating on Izzie and her sex life Alex finished his lunch and headed back to work.

Mark was having a great day, this morning he woke up with Izzie in his arms once again. He felt that a wall between them had come down now that she was staying over. Honestly he enjoyed her company which he rarely found happened with him and the women he slept with. He was finishing work early and going to play golf with an old friend. On his way out of the hospital he decided to go looking for Izzie and see if she'd come over later but on his search he came across Lexie Grey crying in an on-call room.

He had not fanaticised about Lexie in weeks but seeing the young doctor crying brought all his old feelings flooding back. Coughing to make his presence known he felt lost for words as her watery eyes met his.

"Grey, are you ok?" was the best he could come up with. Lexie quickly began brushing tears off her face clearly mortified that she had been caught crying.

"Yeah, it's nothing, it's silly." She exclaimed.

"Do you want me to get someone for you? Meredith or George?" seen as it had been weeks since he thought about Lexie he honestly had no idea if she had finally told George that she had feelings for him. He suddenly wished Izzie was here to comfort Lexie, she would know exactly the right thing to say.

"No, Dr. Sloan I'm fine. And getting George would be the last thing that would help." At this Lexie started to get upset again and Mark moved to sit down on the bed beside her suddenly feeling increasingly nervous.

"I'd offer you a tissue but I don't have one." He said realising how lame he sounded but he felt better when his comment made Lexie slightly smile.

"It's ok, I'm so stupid I'm crying over a man who doesn't even know I exist." She sighed while Mark found it ironic that she referred to George as a man, as far as Mark could see George was a pup who had now made Lexie cry.

"Yeah well O'Malley is the stupid one, not you." He said softly. Again she smiled and Mark noticed that her tears had stopped falling.

"Thanks, Dr. Sloan. Your being too nice to me."

"It's Mark when we are not working, and if you want I could knock some sense into that boy for you?" he offered.

"Ha no thanks, I think I should just move on, he's probably still in love with Izzie, right? Their planning on getting back together one day when the time is right anyway. He talks about her all the time and spends all his free time over at Meredith's with her. I just need to face facts and move on."

Suddenly Mark felt like he had been punched in the gut. All the time he was worried about Izzie going back to Alex, he never even thought that George could be a contender. And now Lexie is telling him that George is always over at Izzie's. Izzie rarely mentioned George. His feelings soon shifted to anger. He had always been open and honest with Izzie but she had failed to mention this pretty large bit of information.

Noticing that Mark had gone quiet Lexie broke the silence.

"I better get back to work, thank you." She said before doing a totally inappropriate Lexie thing to do which was kissing Mark on the cheek. Quickly realising what she had done Lexie's face turned the colour of beetroot and she apologised and ran from the room leaving Mark more confused than ever.


	14. Chapter 14

_Hey guys, thanks so much for the reviews, I love hearing what you think. Please keep reviewing :)_

_Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me, all just borrowed for fun!  
_

The next morning Izzie woke up in her bed feeling like she had just gotten the best nights sleep ever. She was alone in her bed in Meredith's house. Her other room mates were already in work but Izzie was not due in until ten and looking at her clock she saw it was 8:02. Yawning and stretching she decided that she would go for a run for half an hour then shower and have some muesli before leaving for work.

Picking her phone up she noticed she had a missed call from Mark, she smiled to herself knowing perfectly well what he was calling for. She would make it up to him tonight for missing his call. She was just about to put her phone back on the table when something caught her eye that made her heart jump, the date.

It was the second of March.

She knew for weeks that this date was coming but every year it sneaked up on her faster and faster. It did not even hit her yesterday when signing off on forms what date it was. Suddenly all of Izzie's plans for the morning were forgotten as she sunk back into bed with hot tears streaming down her face.

Today was her daughters twelfth birthday and she had forgotten. Actually that was not true, she knew it was coming, she must have pushed it back in to her subconscious not allowing herself to think of anything other than herself lately. She now felt selfish.

Every year Izzie dreaded the beginning of March, and every year it made her sink into a self loathing depression. The month of March always sucked. And three days from now would be the anniversary of the day that Sarah's new parents took her away from Izzie. She always knew that giving Sarah up had been the right decision and the best decision.

It was the decision that lead Izzie to medicine. Sarah's birth had been extremely long and difficult but seeing the doctors and nurses work so hard to make Izzie as comfortable as possible and also seeing them save the life of another woman's baby while she was visiting her tiny baby in the nursery was when Izzie first saw the magic of medicine. Izzie decided there and then that she would become a doctor and make her daughter proud of her one day. Izzie did not want Sarah to track her down one day and find that her mother was just an average person, she would be an outstanding person, who saved lives.

Although reflecting on her life today Izzie wondered if her daughter would be proud of her. She had made so many mistakes along the way. She had hurt people such as Alex, George and Callie. In becoming a doctor to save lives Izzie had forgotten that there would be times when she would be unable to save lives and people who she was responsible for would die.

Finally Izzie realised an hour had passed and she pushed herself out of bed relieved that her house mates would not see her tear stained face. Quickly showering not caring of all the conditioner was rinsed from her blonde locks Izzie's thoughts of a healthy breakfast was soon replaced by comfort food as she made chocolate chip pancakes and ate a huge batch. Feeling sick she realised she had fifteen minutes to get to work. Finally getting the energy to move her drained body Izzie made her way to her car and tried to push all thoughts of Sarah out of her mind.

Izzie spent her day ignoring everyone unless it was work related she completely disengaged with everything and everyone around her. Even Cristina noticed Izzie's strange behaviour and decided to avoid any questions she had about Izzie's mystery guy for another day. Her friends decided that it should be George to ask Izzie if she was ok but after only receiving mutters and grunts as answers George gave up. They were all really busy and Izzie was grateful because she was distracted and it did not give her friends time to question her behaviour.

She continued to avoid them at lunch choosing to hide in a corner of hospital not realising that all day Mark had been looking for. Izzie was on really frustrating case, she disliked the family of her patient. Her patient was a young girl who was only in to get her tonsils removed, a simple procedure but they had millions of questions for Izzie which she had already answered and now when she finally needed to talk to them they had disappeared to the canteen, Izzie presumed, leaving the poor nervous girl alone.

Izzie was furious, it also did not help that the girl was about eleven years old and was as blonde as Sarah was in the last photo Izzie had received from Sarah, actually it should be Hannah's, adoptive parents. If that young girl was hers Izzie knew she would not leave her side for a second. Approaching the nurses' station she rummaged around for a set of notes she had just left down. Angrily looking she barked at nurses demanding to know where her file was. It was at this moment that Mark finally tracked her down and it was also the worst moment he could have found her.

"Stevens," he began only to be cut short when she snapped

"What?" he ignored her harsh tone. She was not the only one who was having a bad day. Actually he had been having a bad night ever since Lexie had mentioned Izzie and George. After leaving work yesterday he played a rubbish round of golf and then was the butt of his friends jokes about how crap he played. Following that he had gone home to his hotel room and debated whether he should confront Izzie about Lexie's revelation. Really he should not care if Izzie planned to get back with George, at the end of the day his arrangement with her would end one day, but it still bothered him.

George did not deserve Lexie and he certainly did not deserve Izzie. Neither did Alex, despite the fact the Mark had noticed an improvement in his behaviour not only to Izzie but to the staff and patients in Seattle Grace. The more he thought about it last night the more he realized that in his opinion no guy deserved Izzie Stevens and when she would move on it was without a doubt going to bother him.

At the same time he realized he was finally starting to make headway with Lexie. He had comforted her when she cried and she showed her appreciation by kissing him. Ok it was only a quick kiss on the cheek but it was a kiss.

This now left Mark with a dilemma. For ages now he thought he wanted to be with the younger Grey but in doing so it would end this thing with Izzie and Mark was not sure if he was ready or if he even wanted to do that. But where did that leave him? He was sure Izzie would get tired of him at some stage and he could not stand in the way of every guy that asked her out, and there would be many. He was pulled out of his thoughts when Izzie snapped again.

"Mark, what do you want? I'm busy!" Mark had never seen Izzie pissed off like this before, it was fairly unnerving.

"Um, I called you last night." He said nervously.

"Yeah I was asleep." She answered casually her eyes still darting around searching for the file. At this moment Lexie appeared out of a patients room and began reading a chart at the other side of the room. She caught Marks eye and gave him a shy smile, this did not go unnoticed by Izzie who just rolled her eyes. Distracting him from the young doctor Izzie asked again,

"Dr. Sloan do you want something?"

"Well I was talking to Lexie last night and she" at this point Izzie was annoyed, he wanted to talk about Lexie now! Many times they had discussed Lexie and Alex in Marks hotel room but here in a hospital when Izzie was up to her ears in work he wanted to talk about Lexie. Izzie was now livid.

"Christ Mark we're in work, there are sick people waiting for us to help them and you want to talk about your pathetic crush!" Finally locating her file she grabbed it up and continued "Just grow a pair and ask the girl out." And with that Izzie turned on her heal and stormed down the hall leaving Mark shocked and quite stung by her words.

At least he finally had his answer, there was no more confusion.

His thing with Izzie was over!


	15. Chapter 15

_Hey, thanks for the reviews. Hope you like this, no Mark in this chapter, I hoped to write his reaction to Izzie's outburst in but this ran on a bit longer so it will be coming up in the next chapter._

Meredith and Derek had finally gotten home after one of the busiest days in work. Originally they both had tonight off and had planned to go out, but following two successful emergency surgeries they did not get to leave the hospital until half 11. They both headed straight for the kitchen in search of food, their romantic meal now would consist of whatever was not growing mould in Meredith's fridge. The smell of baking hit them and they smiled, they would happily eat a dinner of Izzie's baking, however when they entered the kitchen those smiles immediately fell.

They found Izzie baking enough muffins, cookies, pies and cakes to feed a small country. Meredith frowned as she had flash back of the days which followed Denny's death in which Izzie baked and baked.

"Iz, are you ok?" Derek asked softly so as not to startle the young doctor who had not even noticed that they had arrived home. Izzie glanced up at them,

"Yeah, fine, can you pass me the flour over there?" she pointed at a bag shopping which was full of baking ingredients.

"What's with all the baking?" Meredith asked, it was clear from the tone in her voice that she was concerned. Izzie had been through so much in the past few years but recently she seemed perfectly happy, until today. Now it seemed like Izzie had taken two steps forward and about nine steps back.

"The cancer ward is having a cake sale in the canteen tomorrow to raise money so I thought I'd help them out." Meredith relaxed a little on hearing this; Izzie was not crazy just helping, it was so typical of her. Meredith had heard about the sale tomorrow and decided she would by a muffin or something she would never have thought of baking to help them out; then again Meredith's baking would not help much.

"Oh I made some dinner for you earlier, I knew you had plans to go out but with the surgery and all I guessed your evening would be ruined, I set the dining table for you, there are candles and all." Derek and Meredith both stared at Izzie in awe. When did she get the time to do so much?

"Iz, you shouldn't have, we were just going to order a pizza or something." Derek said, now he was worried too. Everyone had noticed her mood in work today. She was usually so happy or if not happy, normal but today she ranged from grumpy to distant to angry and now she was baking calmly and cooking romantic meals for others.

"Its fine, I'll just heat it up, it will take about ten minutes. You guys want some wine?" she pointed to an open bottle of red which she had been drinking to numb herself after her awful day.

She was baking to make herself feel better about herself, cooking dinner for them to distract herself from thinking about Sarah and also about Mark. She cringed when she thought of how she shouted at him. She did not what to get mad at him, she did not mean too, but when you are in a bad mood you take it out on the people you are closest to, leaving Mark as an obvious target for her anger.

The worst part of all her baking and cooking was that it was a distraction. But usually Mark was her distraction. There was no way she could call him now. She owed him an apology and he would get one but today she was too emotional. If she began explaining she would tell him about Sarah and she was not ready to share that with him.

While waiting for their food Derek and Meredith chatted to Izzie about their day but did not get much of a response. Hearing the front door open Meredith ran out to meet Alex, pulling him into the dining room. Looking around Alex could see that Meredith's mother's good china was out, there was a candle on the table and the mess that used to clutter the room is gone.

"God, look at this place. What happened?" Meredith followed Alex's eyes around the room, it was spotless.

"Izzie happened. Do you know what's wrong with her?" Alex shrugged

"She's probably just having a bad day."

"No Alex, she baked more food than when Denny died, fair enough it for charity but still, and she cooked dinner for me and Derek and she's just not herself today. You have to talk to her!" Meredith exclaimed, as she left the room to join Derek and Izzie in the kitchen. Signing Alex followed her and despite Meredith's warning he got a shock when he walked into the kitchen. Like Meredith had described there was a large amount of baked goods but what surprised Alex the most was how strained Izzie looked. She looked tired and unhappy, immediately he wanted to put her to bed and let her sleep until she felt better.

"Hey" he said to Izzie and Derek. Derek was helping Izzie dish out the meal she made earlier and looked relieved to see Alex.

"Hey, only back from work now?" Derek asked glad Alex was here to look after Izzie. When Meredith had any kind of crisis Derek was an expert on what would cheer her up, but he did not know where to begin to help Izzie.

"Went to Joe's for a bit with O'Malley. Wow that smells amazing Iz." She did not smile, just replied that there was some left if he wanted it. No one spoke as Izzie finished dishing out the dinner and then returned to her baking.

"Well this looks great, why don't we eat it in the dining room that Izzie set up?" Meredith said picking up her plate and leaving Alex alone to fix her friend.

Alex got a beer out of the fridge and nervously studied Izzie; she was frowning and completely wrapped up in her baking. Not able to stand the silence he began talking to her about his day, his patients and his surgeries. He knew she was not listening so he decided he would take a more direct approach.

"Iz, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, just because I'm baking does not mean that something is wrong." She said, her expression still knitted in concentration as she put icing on a cake.

"Well it usually does when you bake this much. We're worried about you."

At this Izzie softened, she felt like the weight of the world was on her shoulders. The compassion and worry she heard in his voice made a lump form in the throat. Taking a gulp of air, her vision blurry from unshed tears she finally replied.

"I'll be ok, I just need a few days." At this a tear ran down her cheek and she found herself in Alex's arms.

Suddenly she could not stop crying. All day she had been on the verge of breaking down.

Alex said nothing just held her. Now surrounded by all her baking she felt worse. They had provided a minor distraction but not enough. She even believed that sex with Mark would not have been able to distract her from thinking about Sarah. She needed to talk to someone about it and before she knew what was happening she began telling Alex about her hidden past. They talked all night with Alex even spilling a few secrets off his own.

The next morning Izzie woke up feeling better, Alex had told her that she had done the right thing giving Sarah up, of course she would always have regrets but Alex assured her that even Sarah would understand the reason behind her decision. Getting up she joined Alex in the kitchen and smiled at him. He passed her a mug of coffee and she noticed that he had packed up all her baked goods ready for the sale today.

"Thank you" she said gratefully referring to the coffee, the boxes of muffins and most importantly the way he looked after her last night. He smiled back at her, she looked like happy Izzie again, there were no dark circles around her eyes and when she smiled her eyes lit up as well.

"No problem, what are friends for?" he responded. "So are you going to apologise to this guy your seeing today?" Last night Izzie had told him about her last run in with Mark. Of course she still did not tell Alex who he was and changed some of the story around.

"Yeah, I just hope he'll let me say sorry." Izzie said

"I'm sure everything will work itself out," Alex said confidently as he picked up some of the boxes of cakes "I'm going to take these out the car, you better get ready we have to be in work in less than an hour and you still have to make those pancakes you promised." Izzie smiled; in Alex she had a great friend.


	16. Chapter 16

_Here's the next chapter, please leave a review!_

_Disclaimer: All Greys characters, etc do not belong to me.  
_

Mark could not sleep. It had been three days since Izzie had lost it at him and in those three days he had experienced a whole universe of emotions. First there was anger; he could not believe that Izzie had exploded at him. He had stormed down the hall and ordered Alex to get him a coffee. He took his bad mood out on Alex as he processed what Izzie had said.

Then his mood shifted and he began to wonder if Izzie Stevens was right. Maybe this was the kick up the ass he needed if he wanted to be with Lexie. She was not that different to any other girl that Mark had been with before so he should just ask her out. If she said no he could move on.

So his mood shifted again to nervousness as he searched the halls for Lexie. Finally finding her he pulled her into an on-call room. Lexie thought he was about to give out to her for kissing him the day before so she mumbled apologies and would not let him get a word in until she finally stopped. When she agreed to go on a date with him he was delighted. This was what he had wanted for months now right? And now thanks to Izzie's outburst it was happening.

The next day at work he had seen Izzie and went straight over to thank her. She began by saying how sorry she was for the things she said but Mark would not listen and he told her about how much he was looking forward to his date and how it was all thanks to her. Izzie had just smiled and nodded and he had not seen her much since then.

Now he was lying in his bed alone and confused. He had returned from his date with Lexie an hour ago and it had not gone well. They went to a small little restaurant just five minutes from the hospital, which was their first mistake. It seemed that this was the spot where all hospital staff went on dates and immediately he regretted bringing Lexie here as they would be the main topic of gossip tomorrow.

What surprised Mark the most was that Alex was there with one of the nursing staff. All evening Marks eyes wandered over to Alex's table. He wondered if Izzie knew what Alex was doing. They seemed really close in work and Mark felt that if Alex was ever going to win Izzie back it would be now. Now that Izzie no longer needed Mark. This realization put Mark off his food. Izzie did not need him anymore and it did bother him. He would miss the sex but he would also miss Izzie. They had become friends over the past few months and he knew he could rely on her for anything. Even this evening he had to remind himself not to call her when he could not decide what shirt to wear.

Lexie looked beautiful and the food was amazing but the date was uncomfortable. Mark had never been on a worse first date in his life. Usually on dates Mark would begin by making small talk and soon a full conversation would just flow but this was not the case with Lexie. They talked about the hospital and Mark learned that Lexie was a Virgo, she did not like cats and is allergic to eggs, and then they talked about the hospital again. Often their conversation just lapsed and they both found themselves with nothing to say. When they left the restaurant Mark was surprised when Lexie suggested that they would go on a date again and found himself agreeing.

For the second time tonight Mark wanted to call Izzie and tell her what a disaster the night had been. He knew she would laugh at him and joke that he had lost his touch with women. And maybe he had. It had been months since he needed to pick up a woman. He had always just had Izzie, was it unusual that he had only slept with Izzie for the past few months? He had not really noticed that Izzie had been the only woman in his life lately; he had put it down to being busy at work and not having the time to go to Joe's.

Had he been the only man in Izzie's life for the past few months? Maybe she had been dating other men or sleeping with other men. He had no idea, and there were never any rules between them. He had chosen not to pursue other woman but what had Izzie done. Suddenly the thoughts that Izzie had been with some other guy really got to him. Groaning he turned on the TV. He needed something to distract him.

* * *

Izzie was watching TV. Actually she was looking at the TV screen but if anyone asked her what was happening she would not have a clue. Tonight was the night that Mark and Lexie were going on their date. She had barely seen Mark in the past few days and she really missed him, but he had made his decision and now he was on a date with the girl he had been pining over for months. Izzie had decided to avoid him on purpose. It wasn't that she was jealous but she did not want to hear Mark talking excitedly about his date so she simply avoided him.

The morning after her outburst Izzie found Mark and said sorry only to have him thank her because now he had a date with Lexie. She felt her whole body deflate when he told her and excused herself as fast as she could. He had thanked her for being the only woman who had ever stood up to him put him in his place. That was the moment when she realized that her thing with Mark was over and would never happen again. Izzie was distracted from her thoughts when Alex returned from his date.

"Hey Iz." He said as he joined her on the couch. Over the past few days Alex had barely left Izzie's side which she found both annoying and sweet at the same time. He was there if she needed to talk about Sarah or just bitch about work.

"Hey, how did your date go?" she inquired. Alex just responded with a shrug. He had gone on a date with Kate a nurse he had treated really badly when he was getting over Rebecca. He actually really liked Kate and Izzie knew this but she let him act as if he did not care.

"It was good." Suddenly Alex's eyes widened as he remembered the juicy gossip he had brought home for Izzie. "You will never guess who else was out on a date tonight?"

"I dunno, Cristina and Dr. Hunt?"

"No, Mark Sloan and Lexie." Alex said, searching Izzie's face for a response but not getting one.

"Oh." Izzie replied, "Did they look like they were having a good time?" Izzie was dying to ask Alex questions but did not want to make him suspicious.

"Dunno, I guess. I wasn't really paying them much attention." Alex picked up a magazine and started flicking threw it "I never thought she would date him, she's into George isn't she?"

"Yeah I think so." Izzie responded turning her attention back to the TV, "Maybe she likes Sloan, they could make a good couple." At this Alex snorted.

"Mark Sloan would never be part of a good couple. They won't last."

"Why do you think that?" Izzie asked, she really wanted to hear her friend's opinion on Mark. She knew that Alex hated Mark because he put him through hell in work so he would probably be a little bias.

"Sloan isn't a relationship kind of guy. If Sloan was to meet a woman and get into a relationship she'd be a woman who would not put up with his crap, who would not go running when he asks for coffee. The only woman that Mark would ever end up is one who would put him in his place and Lexie is not that kind of girl."

On hearing this Izzie smiled. She had put Mark in his place many times.


	17. Chapter 17

_Disclaimer: I do not own Grey's or any of the characters._

Two days had past and Izzie still had not come face to face with Mark again. She had yesterday off and he had the day before off. Because she had not seen him it had giving Izzie longer to think or maybe obsess about their situation. Anytime Izzie thought about Mark she felt nervous, there was a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. Ignoring this feeling Izzie also had another bad feeling and this one she could identify. It was jealousy.

And she hated herself for feeling jealous of Lexie. She really liked Lexie and unlike girls Izzie was jealous of in high school she could not fault the girl. She wasn't a back stabbing bitch, she didn't have perfect hair or mile long legs. So Izzie could not hate Lexie, she just was jealous of her.

What unsettled Izzie the most was where this jealousy was coming from. She had promised herself that she would not fall for Mark, and she was fairly sure that she had not. It was natural for a girl to be jealous of the girl that was replacing her, right? There were no feelings involved.

This is what Izzie had been debating for the past two days.

As she made her way to her first patient's room Izzie felt nervous, today she might bump into Mark and what would she do then? Would she act like he was just her boss? Would they just pretend that they had not slept together for the last few months? Surely he couldn't forget the mind blowing, oh so amazing sex they had? They had also become friends, would that be forgotten about too, or would they continue to be friends and forget about the already mentioned hot, hot sex? And if they were still friends Izzie could not ask him about his date with Lexie even though it was the only thing she was interested in finding out about. The last thing Izzie wanted was Mark knowing she was jealous, or even thinking about him for that matter, he had moved on. Crap Izzie needed to learn to stop over analyzing everything.

At this she rounded a corner and came face to face with the man she had been thinking about all day. He was talking to Derek who she was assigned too. Izzie and Mark smiled politely at each other.

"There you are Dr. Stevens, our patient is in room 1127, come on." Izzie nodded and quickly followed Derek cursing herself for not finding her voice and saying something to Mark.

* * *

A few hours later Izzie was eating lunch in the canteen with Cristina when Lexie approached.

"What do you want two?" Cristina demanded in a dry tone.

"Um, I was just wondering, well it's Dr. Stevens; I was wondering if you would help me?"

Izzie looked up surprise at the young intern. Lexie looked terrified and mortified at the same time.

"Yeah, course Lexie, what's up?" Izzie smiled at her and nodded at a free chair which Lexie then nervously sat down on. She began twirling a bracelet on her wrist and did not look at Cristina or Izzie.

"Two, what is it?" Cristina barked as Lexie cautiously looked at the two doctors and tried to figure out the best way to ask for Izzie's advice.

"Well you probably know that I had a date with Dr. Sloan recently." Lexie began softly. Izzie suddenly felt sick, did Mark tell her about what had happened between them? But then Lexie continued. "It's just that he's Mark Sloan, and I've never slept with anyone like Mark Sloan before."

At this Cristina laughed, it was clear from the expression that Lexie would have preferred to talk to Izzie in private but it was too late now.

"I just don't want him to think I'm inexperienced you know? Because I'm not, I've had lots of sex before, lots and lots of sex, oh but I'm not a slut, just a little sex then." Lexie's face was burning redder and redder with each word "Anyway I was talking to a friend and she told me I should maybe wear some like sexy lingerie. And I hope I'm not insulting you but I know you used to model this stuff so I am, well I was hoping I could get your professional opinion."

Izzie shifted in her chair while Cristina regained her composure. Lexie looked like she wanted the ground to open up and swallow her but Izzie realized she must really like Mark if she was going to this length.

"Um, I dunno about professional opinion. But I'll try my best." Izzie smiled reassuringly at Lexie hoping Cristina would stop laughing soon. At this Lexie pulled out the new Bethany Whisper catalogue and passed it to Izzie.

"I just can decide between the red satin one and the black lacy one, what do you think?" Izzie felt her heart race as she looked at the black lacy lingerie that Izzie had recently modelled for Mark in his hotel room. Cristina who had recently stopped laughing was now looking in at the pictures in Izzie's hands.

"Go with the black one, its way sexier, and more Sloan's style. And he could undo those stringy bits with his teeth, that would be hot." Cristina stated with a dreamy look on her face, seeing both Izzie and Lexie looking at her Cristina began defending herself. "What? He's McSteamy! Like you have never imagined what it would be like with him Izzie." At this Izzie blushed and turned her attention back to the catalogue.

"I like the red better. I think it would suit you better than the black and look classier than the black." Izzie lied. The black was without a doubt the nicer of the two. At this Alex joined them.

"What ye doing?"

"Picking something sexy for Lexie to wear for Sloan." Cristina chimed loudly as Lexie winced. Looking at the pictures Alex joined in the debate.

"Go with that black one. Sloan will love you for it." Alex said winking at Lexie.

"Izzie thinks the red one is best."

"Yeah well Izzie may have modelled this stuff but she doesn't think like a man and trust me the black one is best." Izzie just smiled at Lexie and shrugged. Would Mark even notice that Lexie was wearing the same lingerie as she had for him? He probably would not. Izzie's night was going to be a restless one now that she knew that Lexie and Mark would be having sex tonight. That same old jealously feeling had returned stronger than ever and once again Izzie needed a distraction.

"Guys, how bout we hit Joes tonight and get really, really drunk?" she said with a suggestive smile.


	18. Chapter 18

_Disclaimer: I do not own Grey's _

Mark slowly washed his hands in his bathroom. He was actually hiding in his bathroom after another terrible date with Lexie. It was awkward and uncomfortable leaving Mark dreading tomorrow when he would have to return to his role of Lexie's boss. He now totally regretted asking her out. He just assumed that he still liked her but obviously that was not the case. And it was clear that Lexie was still crazy about George.

Mark looked at himself in the mirror wondering how long he could stay in the bathroom for. Lexie was in his hotel room right now. He did not know why he asked her up to his room, he assumed she would politely say no but she did not. And now she was waiting for him to return and then what. Having sex with her would just seem weird and she was Meredith's younger sister. Mark began to wonder if the reason he like her all this time was because he wanted what Derek and Meredith have and in some weird way he figured Lexie would be perfect as she was a mini Meredith.

He rearranged towels twice and threw old mini sized shampoo bottles in the bin. Maybe he'd just rearrange the towels one more time and then he would face Lexie and tell her he wanted an early night.

* * *

Lexie was nervously waiting in Marks room. She was so far out of her comfort zone it was unbearable. She had gone against Izzie's advice and was now standing in uncomfortably itchy black lace underwear. She did look amazing but she was regretting not going with the satin option. At least satin was soft.

Mark had gone into the bathroom and he had been in there for ages. Lexie poured herself a glass of white wine, spilling half of it as she poured. Quickly searching for something to clean up her spill all she could find was an old t shirt of Marks that had been thrown on the ground. She quickly cleaned up her spill moving some papers off the desk as she did. That's when a small sparkle caught her eye. Lifting the papers further up she notice a pair of diamond earrings obviously belonging to whoever was Marks last bed mate. Just serving to remind Lexie of whose room she was in.

Was she making a huge mistake? She was really surprised when Mark asked her out and after months of pining over George she thought it was about time that she moved on. She could tell that there was no chemistry between them but maybe it would come. And anyway he was Mc Steamy, he was not exactly relationship material. Throwing his t shirt back on the ground she took another big gulp of wine.

* * *

Izzie, Alex and George arrived in Joes just after their shift ended. They had complained when Izzie had spent so long getting ready but Izzie really wanted to make an effort. She had been feeling really low ever since Sarah's birthday and since things had ended between her and Mark. She needed to feel normal again and by dolling herself up she soon felt a little bit better. Not a lot but a little. She had curled her hair perfectly even though both Alex and George had said that she looked perfect before. Finally reaching the bar Izzie told the boys to grab a table and went to the bar to get a round. Cristina and Meredith would be joining them later. It did not take Izzie long to attract the friendly bar mans attention and place her order.

"You're looking lovely tonight Iz." He said smiling.

"Thanks Joe. I had a really horrible long day I have been looking forward to getting here all day. Any news with you?"

"No, but you know who was in here earlier, Lexie and Mark Sloan and then I think they left and went on a date. Can you believe it?" Izzie's heart fell. She could not catch a break from all the gossip about Lexie and Mark.

"Yeah it's big gossip in the hospital." She commented picking up the three bottles of beer and returning to the table where the boys were sitting.

"So Lexie had her big date tonight huh?" Alex asked both George and Izzie.

"What date?" George looked surprised.

"With Sloan. She was picking out hot lingerie earlier; you really missed out on that George." Alex said smirking while Izzie quietly picked at the label on her beer bottle.

"Lexie and Sloan?" George asked in surprise "What, since when?"

"How could you not know it's all over the hospital?" Alex scoffed.

"I, uh I didn't know." George said with what Izzie thought was a hint on jealously in his voice.

"George, do you like Lexie?" she asked softly.

"What? No, Course not. No." George said stumbling over his words.

"Dude you so do! After all these months she's been in love with you and now she's with Sloan and you like her." Alex laughed while Izzie shot him a stern glance.

"Wait, she likes me?"

"No, she is like in love with you. It's been so obvious how did you not notice?"

"Why did you not tell me?" George asked Izzie.

"We all thought you knew. Like Alex said it was really obvious." Suddenly all of their pagers when off and Izzie groaned. She just want to get away from the hospital for a few hours, the gods must have been against her.

"911, come on." Alex said passing Izzie her jacket as she pulled herself out of her chair and gave Joe a friendly wave. She turned and followed Alex and George who was still complaining that no one told him about Lexie.

* * *

Mark finally turned to the bathroom door and opened it. He was just about to tell Lexie he had a headache wincing as he thought how lame it sounded when he found her standing nervously in the same lingerie that Izzie had worn for his birthday. Suddenly he realized why he had lost interest in Lexie. In a moment of clarity he knew that he had fallen for Izzie. Everything with Lexie had seemed so wrong because he should be with Izzie. Begging his pager to go off Mark stood on the stop stunned.

"Wow, Lexie you look amazing, I um."

Suddenly Lexie's pager went off and Mark felt relief sweep over him.

"Crap" she swore as Marks pager started beeping too. Quickly putting her dress back on she turned to Mark who was grabbing his jacket.

"Maybe some other time?" she asked

"Yeah, course." He agreed as they rushed out the door, both knowing there would not be another time.

_Please Review :)_


	19. Chapter 19

_This is a fairly short chapter but its bringing the story closer to the end. Please review!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Greys or any of its characters of ideas.  
_

The hospital was manic. There had been a massive gas explosions and so many people were burns victims. There were children crying and people screaming in pain. All staff at Seattle Grace were rushed off their feet which resulted in all personal problems being put on the back burner just for a few hours. George had forgotten about Lexie, Lexie had forgotten about George and her awful date with Mark. And Mark had forgotten about Izzie that was until he saw her. His stomach flipped and he immediately became nervous. Her hair was nicely curled and she looked like she had been out before the emergency came in. All in all she looked beautiful, but now that he knew he had fallen for her she looked even more amazing than ever. Once again he felt sick as he wondered how he would even attempt to talk to her again. She had a new power over him that she knew nothing about.

"Dr. Sloan, I have a ten year old boy here with third degree burns can you take a look please." She called with an urgent tone in her voice. Looking at the boy Mark could not help but wince. The child would need extensive surgery and would more than likely be severely scarred. Izzie and Mark worked on cleaning the burns and maintaining the boy's pain relief for two hours when Izzie got called to another patient. In these two hours Mark wanted to talk to Izzie but he could not find the words. She did not look at him just concentrated on her work.

* * *

Twenty four hours later Mark left the hospital. He had gotten four hours sleep and he was exhausted but decided to go to Joes and have a quick night cap before heading home. Sitting at the bar was Alex Karev, drinking a beer on his own. Mark walked over to him and took the stool beside him.

"Mind if I join you Karev?" he asked. Alex responded with a shrug.

They sat there in silence for about half an hour when Lexie appeared at the bar.

"Hi Mark, Um I just wanted to tell you that I won't be going out with you again. I sorted things out with George and I think we're dating now." Lexie explained trying her hardest to keep the excitement out of her voice. She had fallen asleep in an on-call room only to wake up and feel George stroking her hair. He asked her why she had never told him that she liked him and when she could not answer he just kissed her. It had been everything Lexie had wanted and more.

"Oh, well I'm glad things worked out with you and George." He smiled at Lexie. Honestly he was happy that he would not have to end things or face another awful date. Lexie smiled and ran back to where George was waiting at the door.

"Dude sorry about that. Losing a girl to O'Malley sucks, trust me I've been there." Alex said honestly.

"Yeah we were not going anywhere though." Mark replied then suddenly a thought crossed his mind. "So did you and Stevens sort everything out?"

"Yeah we're good now." Alex replied and Marks heart sank. So Izzie was with Alex now.

"We're great friends, like I never stood a chance of winning her back realistically." Alex said sadly "But she's a great friend and right now that's what I need the most. Anyway it turns out the whole time I was trying to win her back she was with some other guy." Mark's heart rate increased on hearing this. Izzie had talked about him to Alex, did that mean she cared?

"You know those flowers I sent to her in work, she thought they were from this guy."

"Oh who is this other guy?" Mark asked trying to sound as innocent as possible.

"No idea but it's over now. She was having a bad day about something and she shouted at the guy which sent him running after some other girl. I told her all she had to do was tell him why she was having such a bad time and he'd totally understand but she didn't and now she is miserable so I guessed she really liked him." Alex said as he took a gulp of beer unaware of the affect his words were having on Mark.

"Oh she's miserable?" he said, part of him delighted that Izzie was taking this as badly as him and part of him feeling awful for causing Izzie to feel miserable.

"Yeah well Izzie has a lot of stuff going on, like Denny dying and all that stuff. Most of the time she is so positive but right now she's just totally not herself. Why you asking anyway?" Alex asked suddenly aware that maybe he was talking too much about Izzie.

"She just seemed a little off her game recently." Mark said hoping his excuse would be enough. "Do you think she really liked this guy?"

"Yeah, I know Iz, she says she's fine and she doesn't care but she's pretty cut up. Hopefully she'll bounce back soon."

"You think if this guy turned up again she'd forgive him?"

"Guess she would." Alex said shrugging as Mark took out his wallet and paid for his drink and Alex's.

"Thanks Dr. Sloan." Alex said, surprised that the surgeon was being so nice.

"No, problem Dr. Karev. Did you see my patient Mr. Geller? Would you be interested in joining me in the OR for that tomorrow?"

"Yes I'd love to assist Dr. Sloan." Alex answered as he watched Mark exit Joe's and head back to the hospital.

So Sloan was Izzie's mystery man Alex thought as he smiled to himself.


	20. Chapter 20

_One more Chapter left. This was the toughest chapter to write, I keep changing my mind about the ending so I hope you like this one. I love reviews.  
_

_Disclaimer: I do not own any greys.  
_

Izzie felt guilty and she hated that feeling. When she had slept with George she had gone to confession to seek forgiveness but that would have to wait. Work had been crazy and when she finally finished after about twenty four hours she felt drained. It had been a hectic twenty four hours. When she was not concentrating on her patients she was trying her best to answer George's questions about Lexie. He bombarded Izzie, Alex and even Meredith with ideas of how he could ask Lexie out while the others worked on various patients. Cristina got so annoyed with George's moaning and questioning that she locked him in the on-call room where Lexie was sleeping.

Two hours later Izzie saw George running towards her with a huge grin on his face. He happily told her that he was now with Lexie and that was the moment when Izzie started feeling guilty.

Knowing how much Mark liked Lexie and knowing that she was partly responsible for George finding out that Lexie liked him and she felt guilty. Now she was lying in bed but she could not sleep. She should be asleep but all she could think of was how Mark was feeling about George literally stealing Lexie. Everyone else would assume that his ego would be bruised but Izzie knew Mark would be really hurt.

Letting out a frustrated sigh Izzie pushed the blanket off her and began to get dressed. She needed to see if Mark was alright, as stupid as it sounded she wanted to check on him. Putting on her shoes she slipped out her bedroom door and left Meredith's house. As she drove she berated herself for having a caring side. Here she was at one in the morning driving across town to see if a grown man was ok because a woman he had dated twice was now seeing George.

She parked the car and made her way into the lobby where she waved at Chris, who often brought her room service on her nights with Mark. Blushing when Chris winked at her with a cheeky smile she realized she looked like she was coming to the hotel for a booty call. Once the door of the elevator closed Izzie realized how crazy Mark would think she was. They were over and had gone back to being colleagues, she should not have come. But she could not sleep. She needed to know he was ok or confess her part in getting George and Lexie together, then she would feel better and tomorrow after a massive sleep Izzie would feel better, and things would go back to normal.

She knocked twice on his door, suddenly panic flooded her, what if he had already moved on. He could have gone to Joes and picked up some woman and could be having sex with her right now on the other side of the door. Izzie moved her ear closer to the door. It would be a typical Mc Steamy move but then again it had been ages since she thought that Mark Sloan was the same person as Mc Steamy. He certainly did not seem to be an arrogant ass or be sleeping around much anymore. She knocked again, holding her breath waiting for him to answer the door.

* * *

Mark had searched the hospital for Izzie. He knew she was still there when he had left earlier but she must have gone home. It was probably a good thing because as he had no idea where he would even begin to tell her that he had fallen for her. He wanted her; there was no doubt about it. He hated the last few weeks. His bed was cold and lonely and for the first time ever he wanted to just wake up with the same woman every day. After one last look around the surgical wing he gave up. He could go to Meredith's house but everyone including Izzie would probably be asleep by now. Giving up he decided to return to his hotel room. The past few months had just been crazy after thinking for so long he wanted Lexie he was surprised at how little it affected him when she told him she had now moved on to George.

Making his way to his hotel Mark began to wonder how he would ever get Izzie to even consider going out with him. Maybe he could get Alex's help and between them they could come up with a plan because Mark had nothing. He could bribe Alex with really great surgeries. It would be that simple.

Waving at Chris as he entered the hotel he shouted over.

"Hey Chris can you drop up a glass of red wine?" he asked, he had always had red with Izzie and now he just felt like it. Plus it would easily put him to sleep.

"Sure Dr. Sloan, the Merlot that Isobel likes?" Chris asked with a knowing smile.

"Sure." Mark responded as he pressed the button to call the elevator.

"I'll have a bottle sent up right away." Chris responded as Mark entered the lift.

As he reached his floor the doors opened and he found Izzie on the other side. Immediately both of them grew nervous.

"Izzie, what are you doing here?" Mark said in a surprised tone.

"Um," Izzie's mind was blank; she did not know what to say. Eventually regaining her voice she squeaked "I left my earrings in your room the last time I was here and they are really important to me, they were a present and I'd hate to lose them." She lied about her earrings which cost her at most $10 in some cheap jewellery store. God she could not believe how lame that sounded.

"Oh, yeah I think I saw them." He said unable to hide the disappointment in his voice. Maybe she was here to see him though; it was a bit late to just be worrying about earrings.

Opening the door to his room he stepped back as Izzie entered. He could not escape the little rush of excitement he felt knowing that Izzie was back in his room. Izzie quickly found the earrings on the desk and turned back to Mark. An awkward silence fell between them but from somewhere Izzie got the courage to talk and say what she had come there to say.

"I'm so sorry about the way things worked out between you and Lexie and I feel responsible. See we were in Joe's talking about your date and then we kinda let it slip to George that Lexie had liked him. Well actually it was more Alex who let it slip but I agreed and we even encouraged him to go after Lexie and I feel bad because I know you really liked her and its so confusing because George is my friend and I want to see him happy but I want to see you happy too. I just could not sleep and"

"Wait, you want me to be happy?" he asked confusion written all over his face.

"Yes." Izzie said waiting for him to explode at her, she wanted him to be happy but yet she had broken up this thing with Lexie.

"Izzie, I don't care that Lexie is with George, actually I'm happy for her."

"What?" now it was Izzie's turn to look confused. Sitting down on the bed Mark began to explain.

"The dates well they were really bad and awkward. I just assumed they would be perfect but well they kinda sucked."

"Oh." Izzie said in shock. Relief flooded her body though she could not explain why.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Mark answered it to find Chris standing there with a bottle of wine and two glasses grinning like a Cheshire cat. Mark quickly tipped him and shut the door.

"Wine?" he asked hoping she would stay.

"Um, no I shouldn't." Izzie said rubbing her neck; her body was aching with tiredness. "I'm really tired."

"You could just stay here? I mean sleep here, I wasn't suggesting sex." He explained cringing, god he sounded desperate, and he was really losing his touch with women.

Izzie looked at the inviting bed; she knew it was more comfortable than her bed at Meredith's and that she would love to be held even just for tonight.

"Yeah I'll stay, though I think we're both too tired after the day we had to have sex." She said with a smirk.

"Izzie, I'm never to tired for sex." He joked passing her a glass of wine. They soon fell back into a playful banter just like old times. Half an hour later Izzie could not stop yawning.

"Do you mind if we turn in now?" Izzie asked looking apologetically, she was having a great night and she did not want it to end but her eyes were really heavy.

Climbing into bed together Marks heart was beating so fast he was sure Izzie would hear it. Izzie soon snuggled down and Mark did not know what to do. Nervously sticking to his side of the bed he said goodnight to Izzie. But he could not stay on his side of the bed rolling over he slid his arm around her waist and felt her move closer to him. It felt so great to hold Izzie again but would this be the last time he would get to.

"Izzie." He whispered into her ear.

"Yeah." She replied with tiredness in her voice.

"I want you to come back tomorrow night. Will you?" he said kissing her shoulder.

"Yes." She replied softly

"Will you come back the night after?"

"Yes."

"And the night after?" he said kissing her again.

"Yes Mark I will. Can we sleep now?" she asked with a smile on her face.

"Izzie, before you come over here tomorrow night, will you go on a date with me?" he asked softly.

"Yes Mark, now sleep."


	21. Chapter 21

_Wow I've actually finished a story! Hope you like it. Review!!!_

Izzie hated flying. It did not matter if she was in first class, business class or no class. There was just something unnatural about flying. She wasn't afraid of it, she was not a bad traveller she was just impatient. Flying, while it was the quickest form of transport going, it always seemed to take forever. Flying involved a lot of waiting. Waiting to check in, waiting to board, waiting to take off, waiting to land, waiting to disembark and waiting for your luggage. And right now Izzie was waiting for her boyfriend of a year and a half to stop talking to one of the airhostess and join her. She rolled her eyes as Mark said something that made the airhostess giggle as he made his way back from the bathroom. As Mark continued to talk he caught Izzie's eye and smiled at her which caused the airhostess to turn and look at Izzie. Izzie smiled back and turned her attention back to a magazine on her lap. The article was about girls not trusting their boyfriends; well Izzie did not have that problem.

She smiled to herself as she remembered her first date with Mark. He was a mess, nervous, jumpy so unlike the man chatting to the airhostess now. When it became apparent that the night was going to turn into a disaster if Izzie let Mark take the lead she took matters into her own hands. Telling him that there was nothing on the menu that she liked in the fancy French restaurant he had taken her to they had left. Izzie brought him straight to a bar similar to Joes and finally got him to relax as they ate fries. It was the best first date Izzie had ever been on and she hoped it would be her last first date.

* * *

"Is that your girlfriend?" Maria the airhostess asked when she saw her passenger, old friend (and plastic surgeon) smile at another passenger.

"Yes, that's Izzie but I'm hoping after this weekend she'll be my fiancée." Mark admitted bursting to tell Maria all about Izzie.

"Oh God Mark that's so exciting." Maria exclaimed. She had known Mark all her life, his mother and her mother were best friends and she was ten years older than Mark so she had babysat him and watched him grow into the Doctor he was today. Glancing again at Izzie she realized she was looking at the woman who Mrs. Sloan feared did not exist. This was the woman who changed Mark Sloan. "Your mother will be so happy. Does she know?"

"Well she knows I've been planning this for awhile."

"She must be a lovely girl Mark." She exclaimed.

"She is." Mark agreed. There was no doubt about it; Izzie Steven's had changed him. He was now the first to leave the bar when he went for drinks with Derek and Richard as he could never wait to get back to his apartment to be with Izzie. He had moved out of the hotel a month after getting with Izzie as she had insisted that living in a hotel was ridiculous and wasteful. She had worked out that if he had rented a basic apartment instead of living in the hotel since he had arrived in Seattle he would have a huge chunk of money which he could have saved, or bought her presents with or even donated to her clinic. Izzie soon realized the downside of not staying in the hotel was the lack of room service so he tried to take her away to hotels as often as possible. That was why his plan was so perfect this time. They were taking a four day holiday which was nothing out of the ordinary for them. They would be staying in a quiet secluded beach in Florida. Mark had let Izzie think that taking the trip away was her idea but she thought they were just going to a hotel in Miami. Mark had arranged with the owner of the 5 star resort they were actually going to, to set up their dinner on the beach tonight and he planned to go down on one knee then.

He had picked out a platinum three stone ring about a month ago and he knew Izzie would love it. He did not need to show the ring to any of Izzie's friends for assurance, he knew it was perfect. In fact none of their friends knew that he was planning on proposing not even Derek. He was so proud that he had managed to keep his plans to himself. He wanted the moment he proposed to Izzie to be a surprise and he did not want the staff of Seattle Grace to start betting about their relationship. He could not help but smile, there was no doubt that their friends would be surprised when they would return home engaged. Izzie had only moved in with him two months ago after months of him asking she maintained that she liked living in Meredith's and she was afraid to rush into anything. Despite this Mark knew that he was it for Izzie. To their friends Izzie joked that she was only with Mark for the great sex and his money but actions spoke louder than words and her actions left him in no doubt that he was loved. It was the little things Izzie did like cook his favourite meal, or fluff his pillows or iron his shirts. Saying good bye to Maria he returned to Izzie's side.

"What age you think the airhostess is?" he asked her as she glanced once again at Maria.

"I'd say late twenties." Izzie replied as Mark stroked her left hand.

"Good, she's some of my best work." Mark replied looking at Izzie's finger where he hoped she would be wearing a ring in a few short hours. Nerves bubbled in his stomach once again and he mentally checked where he had put the box containing the ring for the hundred time. He had packed it in his suitcase wrapped in a shirt. He wished he had it in his pocket now but going through security he knew Izzie would spot it. He prayed his bags would not get lost.

"What age is she?" Izzie asked pulling Mark back from his worries.

"Forty-three." He replied as he pulled the magazine off her lap.

"Wow, will you make me look like that when I'm that age?" Izzie quizzed knowing what his answer would be. She knew she was digging for her boyfriend to tell her how beautiful she was but she loved it when he did. She was the first man who ever said it that she actually believed.

"You will never need a facelift Izzie. You are beautiful now and you will be beautiful in fifty years time." He said kissing her on her cheek. "And all the men in the nursing home will be fighting over you."

"Yeah well then can forget it, I'll always only have eyes for one man. You." She said as she kissed him on the lips.

Mark felt his nerves melt away and suddenly he could not wait until tonight. He was so lucky that Izzie Stevens had fallen for him when she could have all the men in the world. Looking back at the beautiful blonde who was now in his arms he said.

"I'm a lucky man."

_THE END :)_


End file.
